ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By SAI AWN TAI | SYDNEY — Many Burmese refugees who have newly arrived in Australia say they are being denied full welfare assistance by Centrelink, the Australian government support agency, despite government legislative programs which guarantee assistance for refugees.

Burmese refugees, many of who spent more than 10 years in refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border, come to Australia on “Offshore Refugee and Humanitarian” visas, which give them permanent residency and means they should be able to access government settlement programs.

Most Burmese immigrants are concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne. Many have suffered trauma in Burma and now face language barriers and cultural and societal displacement.

On arriving in Australia, humanitarian refugees are normally given a period of time to study English full-time, and to adjust to the demands of a very different culture.

Under humanitarian visas, there is no requirement for them to sign up immediately to look for jobs that would entitle them to welfare payments.

However, Centrelink has forced some refugees to sign up to the “Job Network”, which means they must then apply for a certain number of jobs each week (known as the “activity test”) to maintain welfare benefits. This is contrary to the Australian social security law, which was released on November 3 this year. It states:

“A refugee is granted automatic exemption [from the “Job Network” demands] for up to 13 weeks after arriving in Australia. This exemption cannot be extended, except where the person is undertaking the Special Preparatory Program (SPP) part of the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP).”

It means that there should not be any pressure for new arrival refugees within their first 13 weeks in Australia whether they are studying or not. They are entitled to receive welfare payments without any demands to undertake the normal job-seeking activities. For people who have made the massive cultural leap from a refugee camp in the jungles of Asia to the streets of a city in a developed country this period of adjustment is very necessary.

However, some new arrivals have complained that they have had to join the Job Network almost as soon as they arrived in Australia.

Than Aung, an ethnic Karen who spent nearly 10 years in Mae Hla refugee camp, said he had to join Job Network as soon as he arrived in Australia in November 2006.

Within one week of arriving in Australia, he joined the Adult English Migrant Program (AEMP), which entailed 510 hours of English study. Despite the fact that this meant he was studying full-time, Centrelink and the “Job Network” required him to apply for five to ten jobs regularly to claim his benefits.

“There seems to be some confusion about what is required of new refugees in the government agency Centrelink,” Paul Creedon, the Centrelink NSW Media Adviser said.

“Refugees can do full-time studies, such as Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). However if the course is more than one year the person may need to claim Youth Allowance or “Austudy.” Centrelink will discuss these and any other options with the customer before any changes to payments are made,” he said.

However, at the Parramatta Job Network in Sydney, a spokesperson claimed that Job Network does not accept students that study 15 hours a week or more. Only those who study part-time, are unemployed, or are job seekers are eligible to join Job Network, he said.

Refugees also complained that they were asked to sign agreements that they did not really understand, and that there had been no interpreter available to them when they meet Centrelink staff.

In the meantime, groups such as NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) is helping refugees recover from their experiences and build a new life in Australia.

“Quite a lot of Burmese refugees come to see the STARTTS for counseling with their difficulties. Most of their problems relate to Centrelink” said Danial Zu of STARTTS.

There is an issue of understanding the problem of refugees and their home country background, such as torture and other trauma.

Most Burmese refugees have experienced civil conflicts, war and have spent more than a decade in isolated refugee camps.

Neng Boi, a Burmese refugee of Kuki ethnic background who arrived in Melbourne about six months ago, said, “Some Centrelink staff understand our problem but some staff do not understand, they just pressure us to do things without checking our file properly.”

Neng Boi said that one Centrelink staff member pressured her to search for a job and told her that she is not allowed to study, while another staff member on another day said she could continue to study full-time.

Referring to refugees’ complaints, Centrepoint’s Creedon responded: “Let me say that there has been no change to the way Centrelink services its refugee customers. We have a Refugee Servicing Unit based in Sydney. Staff in the Refugee Servicing Unit are specialists in servicing refugees and understanding their needs and issues”.

Earlier this year, the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) urged the Australian government to do more for refugees by addressing the practical problems faced by recently-arrived humanitarian entrants, especially in housing, language learning and access to employment.

A Burmese case worker at the Parramatta Migrant Resource Centre said there are some Burmese refugees who are homeless, and come to seek help, but the lack of funding from the government means they can do nothing for them.

According to Australian Immigration, in 2007-08, Australia granted 2,961 humanitarian visas to Burmese refugees. It is expected Burmese will continue to be one of the largest groups of entrants under Australia’s humanitarian program for 2008-09.

Sai Awn Tai is a pro-democracy activist and journalism student at University of Technology in Sydney. He regularly reports about the Burmese community in Australia.