Each obstacle will represent one of the barriers preventing refugees from obtaining a safe and secure home. Victoria has held a awareness raising public hearing on asylum seekers. Meanwhile, the national office made a submission to government on the offshore program for refugees. The Annual General Meeting of the Conference of Churches of Western Australia has called on the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Mr Philip Ruddock, to provide a better deal for refugees. The Conference has written to Mr Ruddock asking for all refugee children in Western Australian schools to be given access to Commonwealth funded Intensive Language Centres.
Teachers are under stress dealing with such children.
The children are vulnerable to bullying and under extreme risk of failing at school. Our society will suffer as a result of this government's attitude to asylum-seekers. There are now 4,110 Temporary Protection Visa holders in Australia. Instead, it has called on the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to broaden the threshold criteria used to determine who is a 'refugee' and a 'family member'. The NCCA has also called on the government to extend the right of family reunion to Temporary Protection Visa holders while suspending the 12,000-place cap on the Humanitarian Program.