Refugee issues are complex. Some refugees might be genuine. Most are after financial gain. While Australians view Centrelink payments as paltry, to many refugees, such payments are extravagant luxury beyond their dreams. The national per capita income of many of the countries the refugees come from is under $1000 a year. Therefore, Centrelink payments are more than 12 times what they would likely earn at home, if they could even find work.
To give these payments perspective, Australian per capita income exceeds $40,000. At 12 times, it would be just under half a million dollars per year. How many would queue for payments like that for claiming that they were persecuted in their homeland? Many would lie, cheat and steal for a chance at such rewards. This is why we should be very suspicious of anyone claiming to be a political refugee from an impoverished nation.
Many of the refugees have refused to go to Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand. If they are truly fearful for their lives at home, why would they refuse asylum in those countries? From the mouths of some of the refugees, they don’t want to go because there is no dole like our dole. So they cry that they’ll be killed if they are sent back home. They take us for suckers. Taxpayers are supporting refugees who won’t even work for their keep.
Let’s face it. Many of these refugees put everything they had on a roulette wheel in the hope of free money. For those, the wheel should come up double nil. If we really want to help persecuted people, we don’t have to look beyond the Aboriginal communities. We’ve persecuted them, stolen their children, crushed their dignity, and should be ashamed for what we’ve done and continue to do to them. Charity starts at home.
S G Thomas
Stanthorpe
