Refugees in Australia

When decided upon my next topic to discuss I came across an issue which seemed create an ever-present debate amongst Australian citizens; refugees. Personally, I’ve never had an issue with refugees coming to Australia nor do I concern myself with their ethnicity. I have even volunteered some of my time during high school to mentor and help out with Sudanese refugee children whom were being assimilated into the local primary schools.

However, due to the media and the general discussion on this topic it is certainly obvious that racial discrimination is still present within society today. Initially I planned to discuss the current discrimination aimed at refugees that is present all over the world, however upon further research I found another aspect which interested me more.

An aspect in which I have never considered til today was despite the adversities and challenges that refugees face when assimilating into Australia, there are actual success stories out there.

An article I found on the abc website; “Calling Australia home: refugees share their stories” by Monique Ross really opened my eyes to how opening our country to refugees has created a positive change in their lives.

Isaiah Lahai’s story really drew me in, in particular reference to the food insecurity issues;

“Insecurity was one of the biggest concerns. Famine and lack of shelter was another concern. A little bit of a similarity is... Black Saturday. The way you saw those people after the fires – homeless, helpless – refugees are more miserable than that” (Ross, 2012)

Reading a story like this, I found that it mirrored the topics we had covered about the status of food insecurity, corruption, terrorism etc., in countries around the world. Seeing Isaiah’s journey from Sierra Leone to Guinea to Tasmania, I’ve recognised the level of appreciation I have for the country I live in, and am grateful that despite there being a mass amount of individuals still living in refugee camps there are those families whom have successfully found a home here in Australia.

Conclusively, I am even more confident that Australia should welcome refugees without hesitation, I am aware that there are many more factors and considerations that contribute to this issue, however I feel that growing in a multicultural society it is our obligation to welcome these individuals instead of making their lives more difficult.