2007 Media Releases
Friday 23 November, 2007
Government should lead on integrating refugees says La Trobe researcher
The Australian Government needs to take greater responsibility for helping refugees integrate, according to a La Trobe University researcher who has just received a $420,000 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant to investigate the health and resettlement experiences of refugee men.
Dr Ignacio Correa-Velez, Deputy Director of La Trobe University’s Refugee Health Research Centre, says recent debate sparked by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews’ comments about Sudanese refugees struggling to integrate, had ignored the role of the Australian community in assisting them to fit in.
Dr Correa-Velez says attitudes towards refugees over the past few years have hardened, and he fears Australia succumbing to the “compassion fatigue” that is taking hold in Europe.
“I think over the last few years there has been confusion within the general public. There are different categories of migrants. There are skilled migrants, business migrants, independent migrants. Those in the refugee and humanitarian program are migrants not by choice, but by need.”
Coming from often horrific backgrounds of war and displacement and having lost years living in refugee camps with no access to health services, employment and education, these migrants often have great needs but also greater hopes for making a good life in Australia, Dr Correa-Velez says.
He says the public debate has proved the urgent need for research on this issue, and he had been “pleased and relieved” to receive an NHMRC grant for his research project.
The project – titled Talking the walk: a longitudinal study of refugee men’s health and resettlement - will look at the experiences of 242 recently-arrived refugee men over two years, examining such issues as how social and cultural factors impact on their health, barriers to employment, and the key factors that help or hinder them in building social networks within their own ethnic communities and the wider Australian community.
Based on the government’s refugee intake, he says, half of the participants will be Sudanese, with other African nations, the Middle East and Burma also represented.
Dr Correa-Velez says he is hopeful that his research will lead to improved services and supports for refugee men and their communities in Australia and overseas.
“It’s not an easy issue. I don’t think we can solve the whole problem of refugees in the world but I think we can do better in providing the best we can for the ones that do come here. We have to give our best because, in my experience, they are doing their best as well.”
Further information
Contact Dr Ignacio Correa-Velez