Page 1808 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 8 June 2016
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However, it is worth pointing out that it is not simply out of generosity and compassion that many Canberrans are welcoming people into our communities. ACT communities for a number of years, and for longer than I have been alive, have been seeing firsthand the contributions that migrants and refugees have made and continue to make in Canberra.
Canberrans recognise and appreciate that there are many multicultural organisations and community groups who have been working hard with limited resources to bring people together and to build real inclusion in our city. There are individuals and their families amongst these groups who have made this city a richer place to live, and a more inclusive place to live.
As a community we value these things and we have the ability to share these things with more people, especially those seeking safety from conflicts around the world today. That is why I was very proud to declare the ACT a refugee welcome zone last year. Our government has been consistent in its support for refugee and migrant families over the years, and I saw it as appropriate to make this commitment formal.
We have expressed it time and again since—offering to settle Iraqi and Syrian refugees coming to Australia under the additional intake, and offering refuge to children being held on Nauru—and I recently sent a formal request to the federal government, together with a number of local organisations, to have the ACT recognised as a safe haven enterprise visa zone, which would provide a pathway for asylum seekers to become permanent residents.
On that note, I have been very fortunate in the past couple of months to meet some recently arrived Iraqi refugee families who are today calling Canberra home. I was able to sit and talk with parents and their children. It was great to be able to welcome people who have been through such an ordeal to the safety of our home. Mr Hinder’s motion draws attention to the need to create a genuinely safe and inclusive place for our new arrivals, a place where they will feel like they have the opportunity to thrive, not just survive.
An investment in social inclusion initiatives which empower people is also at the heart of our new ACT budget. A $21.42 million package that includes funding for a full-time coordinator-general for family safety is part of a government-led effort to improve outcomes for individuals and families. This will make this city safer for some of our most disadvantaged families and vulnerable people, and this includes refugees and their families.
When the government funds $53.5 million for the 2016-17 concessions programs, it is money spent on building a community that will give refugees who have settled in Canberra a fair crack at happiness as they go about their daily lives. Even the $1 million investment in funding upgrades to ensure 100 bus stops meet disability standards ensures that refugees and migrants with varying forms of abilities know that they are now at home in a community that considers all of their needs, not just some, in a truly inclusive way.
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