Darren Chester MP August 20
A few of the self-appointed experts on social media have taken great exception to me saying on QandA last night that we ‘shouldn’t talk Australia down’ all the time.The reason I made the point in relation to our involvement in Afghanistan and the humanitarian assistance we continue to offer is because we have a lot to be proud of as a generous nation. Since the end of World War 2, Australia has offered new homes to 920,000 refugees. Our humanitarian program continues to provide 13,750 visas per year and since 2013, we have seen more than 8000 Afghans relocate to Australia. In terms of the interpreters and locally engaged employees, there’s been more than 400 people who assisted our forces in Afghanistan, move to Australia since April this year. The military effort underway right now has been forced on us by the rapid advance of the Taliban and a failure of US intelligence on the ground (and possibly an over-estimation of the Afghan military to fight the Taliban). It was not a failure of our troops and last night, I encouraged our veterans to be proud of their service. If you are struggling at the moment, call Open Arms on 1800 011 046.The critical point in maintaining the integrity of the humanitarian system, and assuring Australians can have confidence in our approach, is that proper security checks are undertaken. It’s why we can’t allow a situation where people smugglers effectively decide who gets visas by selling spots on boats and making life endangering journeys. As I also said last night, there is nothing humane about people drowning at sea, and our Navy plus Border Force personnel forced to retrieve their bodies or intercept this insidious trade.I’m not pretending it’s not complex, emotional and difficult to administer the refugee program but we are a nation which has a history of doing it’s fair share.The Prime Minister has announced 3000 humanitarian visas will be allocated to Afghanistan, as a starting point, on top of the visas already issued to those who assisted our forces in the conflict. At the same time, he has stressed that Afghans in Australia will not be sent home against their wishes, given the precarious security situation on the ground. So when I say ‘please don’t talk Australia down’ it’s because we can be proud of our efforts as a nation and we should be hopeful and optimistic about the future. Despite all the challenges we face, I wouldn’t want to be living anywhere else in the world.
Tessa Jackson I was very impressed with the input of most of the panel last night. Lydia and Yalda offered valuable insight given their backgrounds and experience as did Bob Carr. Dan is always a pleasure to listen to but to hear him speak of the challenges he faced during his deployments (particularly the security challenges) was food for thought. I haven't watched Q & A for quite sometime but I'm glad I made the effort. David Speers needs to stop interrupting and talking over the top of people though, it was very annoying and rude.
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