Outback Queensland communities including Mount Isa would be an ideal home for some of the thousands of Afghan refugees seeking to escape the Taliban's return to power, says Katter's Australian Party Leader Robbie Katter.
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While 3000 humanitarian visas have been allocated to those escaping Afghanistan and potentially more places opened up, Mr Katter said rural Queensland was experiencing population decline, an issue exacerbated by a need for workers due to the pandemic with employers desperate for reliable workers, and outback communities were overwhelmingly accepting of refugees provided they were willing to assimilate and had respect for democracy and the rule of law.
"North West Queensland was developed on the back of people from the Middle East - the second biggest workforce in the Mount Isa region during its development were the Afghan camel drivers so their contribution to our communities goes back a long way," Mr Katter said.
"Obviously a huge concern for the KAP is the sustainability and growth of our rural and regional communities - we have towns to grow and considering there is that huge humanitarian need at the moment, I believe this could be a great opportunity."
Mr Katter said while it was for the Federal Government to decide on what number of refugees could be accepted, they needed to consider the many challenges including housing shortages, a stretched public hospital system and a rising national welfare bill.
He said an influx of refugees into the major cities had to be avoided, as this would inevitably lead to building of metropolitan ghettos.
"We definitely don't want all the refugees coming in big clusters into the cities," he said.
"If the Government can provide to our communities the necessary social infrastructure and support to sustainably introduce and retain the refugees locally, then I think this could be a really positive opportunity to help people in need whilst strengthening the economic and social fabric of our towns."
However Pauline Hanson said there were 44 other Islamic countries in the world better suited to Afghans fleeing the Taliban than Australia.
"We already have a housing crisis with a shortfall of 650,000 homes, skyrocketing public debt, growing urban congestion and massive dependency on welfare that has only been exacerbated by lockdowns and the COVID-19 pandemic," she said.
"While Australia must provide a safe haven to Afghans who have worked directly with our forces, we must not open the floodgates to waves of undocumented arrivals again."
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
