REFUGEES ENRICH THE COUNTRY

Re: “Don’t jump the queue”, (PostBag, July 28).

Barry Wallace’s xenophobic anti-refugee rant must not go unchallenged.

He writes: “But if you look at the people who come to Australia, most only come to get money from the government, and many don’t work and form conclaves. Also, they don’t mix into Australian society”.

This reveals Mr Wallace as an ugly racist who is quite prepared to ignore historical truths to express his prejudices.

Modern immigration to Australia began in 1788, with the arrival of the “First Fleet”, comprising 1,480 men, women and children, including British, African, American and French convicts, and has continued almost uninterrupted for more than 200 years.

In the 1850s the discovery of gold led to a huge boost in immigration, including 42,000 Chinese.

Immigration accelerated again after World War II with Jews, refugees and misplaced people being accepted into Australia.

In the 1950s and 60s thousands of Italian, Greek and Lebanese migrated to Australia, and in 1975 the “boat people” began arriving from Indo China.

I could go into more detail, but what all these examples have in common is that when these migrants arrived they set to work, established themselves, and sent their children to “Australian” schools. And while they kept many of their traditional customs, they enriched the social tapestry of the ever-developing Australia, adding to its diversity and cultural heritages. They also helped build the modern state and its infrastructure. A good example would be the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme in the 1950s and 60s, which was completed with a workforce mainly comprised of European migrants.

It would be foolish to deny that racism, prejudice and bigotry do not exist in Australia, but compared to most other countries Australia is a tolerant society ready to accept peoples of different ethnicity, culture and religion.

I for one would happily trade one Barry Wallace for a boatload of refugees, no matter what country they come from.

David Brown