The Australian government remained committed to resettling 12,000 Syrian refugees, but security checks could take more than a year, officials said yesterday.
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott in September announced that the 12,000 refugees would be resettled from Middle Eastern refugee camps as quickly as possible. Abbott was replaced by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull less than a week later. The first families began arriving in Australia this month.
Australian Senator Cory Bernardi yesterday said that the Cabinet should rethink that commitment in light of the threat militants could pose as refugees in Australia. He said the recent coordinated attacks in Paris had highlighted the dangers.
Photo: AFP
However, Cabinet ministers including Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison and Australian Minister for Justice Michael Keenan stood by the decision.
Peter Shergold, coordinator-general for refugee resettlement in New South Wales, said the careful screening would hold up the resettlement process.
“I’m working on the basis that the vast majority will come next year and it will probably be over 12 or 18 months, not six months,” Shergold told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
In related news, members of the anti-Islam group Reclaim Australia organized nationwide protests over the weekend in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks.
The group’s Web site said that the protests were organized in response to the shock of recent atrocities of “Islam’s radicals” both inside and outside of Australia.
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