REGIONAL areas should be given the opportunity to welcome some of the 12,000 Syrian refugees bound for Australian shores, member for New England Barnaby Joyce said yesterday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He joins a chorus of his Nationals colleagues who are calling on the government to resettle some of the newcomers, expected to start arriving before Christmas, outside metropolitan centres.
“I think we’re a big nation ... and we have a big heart ... and for people with the right motivation and who are doing it for the right reasons – to make a new start – I think we should, and we do, welcome them,” Mr Joyce said.
“And, yes, I do want them to go to regional areas – we are happy to help them.”
Mr Joyce said for regional communities, short of skills in some areas and with some types of jobs proving difficult to fill locally, new members of the community would always be welcome.
“If we have people who want to work; if we have people with qualifications and who are good family people and want to be good members of the community, then why wouldn’t you want them?” he said.
Mr Joyce said his office had already been contacted by people expressing a desire to help the refugees, who are living in camps in neighbouring countries and heading for Europe in their thousands.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott announced on September 9 that Australia would permanently resettle 12,000 refugees from Syria.
Women, children and families from persecuted minorities sheltering in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey would take priority.
“I have been so amazed by the people contacting our office and saying, ‘We have jobs we want them to do’,” Mr Joyce said.
“It just shows the size of the heart of the New England.”
Members of the group Multicultural Tamworth have expressed disappointment that Sydney and Melbourne may be the favoured places to settle the refugees, but recent reports suggest the federal government is exploring the option of regional resettlement, consulting with state and local governments.
Parkes MP Mark Coulton echoed Mr Joyce’s sentiments, saying his office had also fielded many phone calls on the subject “from towns from Lightning Ridge to Mudgee and nearly every other place in between”.
“I believe that the people of country Australia, particularly in my part of the world, are compassionate and have a great ability to embrace and care for people who are disadvantaged,” Mr Coulton said.
