Australia accused of dragging feet on Syria refugee intake

By Matt Siegel
SYDNEY, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Australian Immigration Minister
Peter Dutton on Thursday rejected charges his country was
dragging its feet in resettling refugees from Syria and Iraq,
having resettled just 26 in the same time it took Canada to
process 26,000.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott last September pledged to
accept 12,000 refugees from Syria on top of Australia's current
humanitarian intake programme of 13,750 people.
Dutton said the pace of resettlements was determined on
national security grounds. Border security is a hot-button
political issue in Australia, which is scheduled to hold a
national election later in the year.
"The Australian public demands that the government does
everything possible to make sure that first and foremost our
national security is protected and secondly to make sure that
we're bringing the right people into our country so that they
can start a new life," he told reporters in Washington.
At a Senate estimates hearing last week, immigration
officials said just 26 Syrian refugees had arrived since the
12,000 intake was announced in September.
According to the Canadian government's main website, 21,313
refugees have been resettled since November, while a further
4,687 have had their asylum applications approved but not yet
arrived.
The Refugee Council of Australia noted that neighbouring New
Zealand had resettled 82 of 200 Syrian refugees it agreed to
accept last year under a similar programme.
"Our government is dragging its feet while the rest of the
world is acting much more quickly to meet their promises," said
refugee council chief Paul Power.
"It is a shame for all concerned that the Australian
resettlement programme is so bogged down in bureaucratic delays,
when the governments of Canada and New Zealand have proven that
it is possible to move much more swiftly."
The Australian decision to accept 12,000 people fleeing
Syria and Iraq came in response to a call by the United Nations
for more cohesive asylum policies to deal with the growing
numbers of refugees flooding into Europe to escape the
four-year-old Syrian conflict.
The number of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia is
small in comparison with those arriving in Europe, but under its
tough immigration policies, anyone intercepted trying to reach
the country by boat is sent for processing to camps in Nauru and
Papua New Guinea's Manus Island. They are never eligible to be
resettled in Australia.
Australia's High Court this month rejected a legal test case
that challenged its right to deport 267 refugee children and
their families who had been brought from Nauru, about 3,000 km
(1,800 miles) northeast of Australia, for medical
treatment.