World Vision Australia has called for Australia to increase its regular refugee intake to 42,000 people, saying such a number represents “nothing more than our fair share”.
In a statement released late last week to mark two years since the Australian Government announced it would allow an emergency intake of an extra 12,000 Syrian refugees in response to the ongoing crisis affecting the Middle Eastern nation, Susan Anderson, director of policy and advocacy at the organisation, said that two years on, the fighting continues in Syria and a further six million people have been displaced globally.
“The special intake demonstrated that we can do more,” Ms Anderson said. “We call on the Government to increase our regular annual intake to 42,000 people – which is nothing more than our fair share, given that developing countries are currently hosting more than 90 per cent of the world’s 65.6 million displaced people.”
Ms Anderson said that with climate change, famine and ongoing conflict driving populations out of their homelands, the crisis wouldn’t end any time soon.
“In Australia we have a proud history of helping our neighbours when disasters hit but our relationship to refugees has been poisoned by domestic political concerns,” Ms Anderson said. “We urgently need to re-frame this debate.”
She said becoming a refugee “is always a last resort”. “Imagine being forced to turn your back on everything you know, to walk away from your dreams and to abandon your home. Australia can be a new home to more people in that situation. We’ve already shown that we can do it!”
UNHCR figures show that the number of people displaced from their homes had increased to 65.6 million at the end of 2016.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced late last year that Australia would permanently boost its annual refugee intake from 13,750 in 2015-16 to 18,750 by 2018-2019.