Councillors welcome refugees into Leichhardt

BY KENJI SATO

Leichhardt Council has thrown its support behind new refugees, voting in favour of plans for a Refugee Welcome Centre in Callan Park at last week’s council meeting, December 8.

The Council will seek funding from the NSW and Federal Government to renovate abandoned heritage buildings in Callan Park to provide short-term accommodation and resettlement services to refugees.

Labor councillor Simon Emsley, who proposed the idea, told City Hub that a Refugee Welcome Centre was needed urgently.

“I felt that the timing was right with the surprising decision of the late Abbott Government to take an additional 12,000 Syrian refugees,” he told City Hub.

“It is the right moment to call on the existing support within the inner-city community to put our shoulder to the wheel and do our part.”

“Using a portion of Callan Park to help settle refugees will bring Australia’s great humanitarian project back into the city’s beating heart.”

Plans for the Refugee Welcome Centre had previously been voted down in Leichhardt council by the Greens, who have been pushing for amendments that have since been incorporated into the plans.

Under the Greens’ new amendments, Leichhardt Council will take on an official stance towards Federal refugee issues, opposing offshore processing, mandatory detention, and child detention.

Clr Emsley told City Hub that the Greens’ insistence on a Federal stance to refugee issues was a ‘political’ move.

“I always felt that in the long run we’d work out a consensus position, and I was pleased to see that eventuate last Tuesday,” he told City Hub.

“One of the reasons I put the motion to council was that I was aware that there are a large of people in the Greens movement who are supportive of refugee settlement and support, as there are in the Labor party, so I felt it was only a matter of time before we settled the politics.”

Greens councillor Rochelle Porteous, who had been pushing for the amendments, told City Hub that the new plans were a “win-win” for Leichhardt council.

“Greens councillors have been very supportive of the Refugee Welcome Centre but we wanted to see integrity in what council was saying about asylum seekers and refugees. So we’re very pleased that council has now adopted a very strong position,” she told City Hub.

“If we can get this right then so can the Federal Government. Leichhardt Council is listening to its community and taking a strong humanitarian approach to refugees as a result.”

But the plans have received negative attention from the far-right nationalist Party for Freedom, who are opposed to Muslim immigration.

Council requested police to attend last week’s council meeting, after members of the Party for Freedom stormed the previous meeting, chanting “we don’t want refugees here” and “shame, Emsley, shame”.

Nick Folkes, the Party for Freedom’s Chairman, told City Hub that the Greens’ amendments were a “gross abuse of power”.

“I find it weird that local government is getting involved in Federal issues, and I think it’s really wrong because Council is trying to extend their influence on other layers of government,” Mr Folkes told City Hub.

“Rochelle Porteous said ‘we should go further than this and call for a complete end to mandatory detention’, but they’re a local council, and they should be sticking to local issues.”

Mr Folkes told City Hub that the Party for Freedom opposes all forms of Muslim immigration.

“Whether it’s refugees or immigration from Muslim countries, I completely oppose that sort of immigration. I think it’s incompatible with our way of life. Why are our own people seeking to bring people who have a very different culture and belief system?”

“The politicians within the political establishment are just criminal. They’re corrupt. They’re pushing policies and agenda that are not in the public interest.”

“The motion brought about by Emsley is just a disgrace. Even though they’ve passed that motion, we’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep fighting for what we believe in,” Mr Folkes told City Hub.

Clr Simon Emsley told City Hub that despite the opposition of a vocal minority, the Refugee Welcome Centre had the backing of the majority of his constituents.

“It was great to see a large number of people from the community turn up and say that they wanted us to proceed in the manner we proposed,” he said.

But it may be too soon to celebrate, Clr Emsley told City Hub, warning that Refugee Welcome Centre might not go ahead without more support from State and Federal politicians.

“We’ve got to keep the pressure up in the public domain so that the Coalition, State and Federal Governments can be sympathetic to the proposal,” he said.

Leichhardt Council sent a letter to Federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton last Friday, urging him and the Federal government to fund the Leichhardt Refugee Welcome Centre.