Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled Ukraine following Russia’s brutal invasion. They should all be welcomed, and Australia should help play a role.
Scott Morrison has already flagged a special intake on top of Australia’s existing refugee quota, and giving priority to Ukrainian refugees.
But those from Ukraine are not the only refugees fleeing war. The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August last year has also triggered a wave of refugees. Yet the Australian government has not been nearly so welcoming to Afghans. Myanmar is also a war zone, but we have seen no special intake for Rohingya or Burmese refugees.
Despite months of pleas from the Afghan community and refugee supporters, Morrison has refused to offer the same additional intake he is proposing around Ukraine. This means that all Afghan refugees accepted here come at the expense of other refugees, without increasing Australia’s overall intake of refugees.
It should now be obvious that Afghan refugees who arrived here by boat cannot be sent back. Yet the government still insists that around 5000 Afghans survive on Temporary Protection Visas, with the threat of return hanging over them.
Even Tony Abbott’s government in 2015 accepted a special intake of an additional 12,000 Syrian refugees during the crisis there.
The Australian government has announced places for just 15,000 Afghan refugees over the next four years, including some through the family stream, despite around 100,000 applications.
Scott Morrison himself has noted that “there is quite a lot of room within those programmes to take in more places”, given the lower rate of immigration over the last two years. The refugee intake for the 2020-21 year was the lowest in its history due to COVID-19 border closures, with just 5947 refugees accepted. The refugee intake had already been cut by 5000 places a year from July 2020.
The government should open the doors to Afghan refugees, those from Myanmar and all others in need, as well as the Ukrainians.
