WA’s top judge recommends taking in more refugees

WA Chief Justice Wayne Martin has called on the Federal Government to increase the refugee intake of the country, saying that there was room for the country to do a lot more on a humanitarian level.

Justice Martin, while speaking to the Centre for Advocacy Support and Education for Refugees, said that refugees made a great contribution to the social fabric of Australia and the country could bring in more people on a per capita basis.

Justice Martin said that in the year 2005, Australia hosted more than 65,000 refugees and this equated to 3.2 refugees for every 1000 people. But in spite of this effort, Australia was ranked blow Pakistan, Britain and the US in protecting refugees.

Justice Martin said that if the country is ranked on that scale, there is an opportunity for Australia to do more in terms of protecting refugees.

He was quick to say that this doesn’t mean that the country hasn’t made significant contribution, but it’s just that when the contribution is viewed in that scale, it can be seen that there is an opportunity to do more.

He said that when one looks at the geography and location of the country and look at where the refugees are, he again thinks that there is room for argument that the country could do a little more in relation to those contributions.

Justice Martin also said that support services needs to be in place for refugees because most of them had been through torture and trauma.

He said that because of the extraordinary circumstances, from which they come, we just can’t take their successful integration into the Australian community for granted and they need support from as many organizations as can provide that support.

He said that refugees tend to self select because of the trouble and effort that they go through in order to come to this country. He also said that the history of refugee settlement in Australia tends to suggest that the process of self selection, the extraordinary trauma that many refugees have to go through in order to get them in this country, actually tends to produce people who are positively committed and thoroughly motivated to make a success of their time Australia.

Ethnic Communities Council president Ramdas Sankaran agreed with Justice Martin that more refugees should be housed in Australia. Ramdas said that the geography of the country provides a level of protection not afforded to other nations which are looking to intake more refugees.