A CHARITY group that ran out of food vouchers due to a surge of asylum seekers being released into Wyndham has been granted relief from the federal government.
In February, UnitingCare Werribee Support and Housing ran out of food vouchers for the first time in 13 years, saying it couldn’t cope with the extra demand of hundreds of asylum seekers housed at nearby transitional accommodation.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the federal Community Services Department had given $25,000 to the organisation in response to its growing need.
“This funding will ensure these services can continue to help people in need,” Ms Gillard, the Lalor MP, said.
Wyndham welfare groups said the soaring demand was largely due to groups of up to 150 asylum seekers being released from detention centres into transitional housing in Tarneit every six weeks since August.
But after the government stepped up its border protection policies, prohibiting bridging visa holders from getting jobs, Werribee Support and Housing chief executive Carol Muir said asylum seekers had been forced into destitution.
The influx of struggling asylum seekers living on less than $31 a day has dealt the agency a 150 per cent spike in demand. Ms Muir said the funding boost would allow the charity to continue providing emergency support to vulnerable residents in Melbourne’s fastest-growing region.
Arguing that detention centres were more harmful to mental health and more expensive than community release, Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor last month announced that families would be eligible for bridging visas, which were previously given only to single men.
“If they are found to be refugees, they will be granted a visa to remain in Australia. If they are not, they will be expected to depart Australia,” he said.
HELPING THE HELPERS
EVEN after they’ve finished packing the day’s food parcels they are still scurrying around, changing bin liners and cleaning coffee cups. It’s eagerness to help that would be attractive to any employer.
After coming into Werribee Support and Housing to ask for food, Senthuran Suthagar, Thineshkumar Sundralingam and Vasantham Kanapathipilai have been taken on as volunteers.
The three Sri Lankan asylum seekers, aged in their early 20s, are among the thousands who have arrived in Australia since last August and been released on bridging visas that deny them the right to work.
When outreach workers went to their shared rental house at St Albans this year, the trio were sleeping on one sheet each on the floor. The centre provided them with mattresses, blankets, kitchen and laundry appliances, and a TV.
Now, as volunteers, they help load and transport donated furniture for other vulnerable Wyndham residents three days a week.
Suddenly, says Senthuran, 20, the work ban doesn’t seem so grim. “We love coming here, meeting new people and helping,” he says. “It doesn’t matter we can’t work because we have got it here.”
Ms Muir said the centre would apply for an Immigration Department grant to buy cricket equipment for Sri Lankan asylum seekers in the area.
