New kit welcomes refugees and promotes understanding
A new education and information kit will promote community understanding and acceptance of refugees and asylum seekers who call Queensland home. Multicultural Affairs Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk will tonight launch the Community Education Kit in Brisbane which aims to create greater awareness of the plight of refugees to ease their transition into our society.
(Media-Newswire.com) - A new education and information kit will promote community understanding and acceptance of refugees and asylum seekers who call Queensland home.
Multicultural Affairs Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk will tonight launch the Community Education Kit in Brisbane which aims to create greater awareness of the plight of refugees to ease their transition into our society.
“In Queensland, almost 5,000 refugees and other humanitarian entrants settled here during the past five years,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“These people come here looking for a new life free of oppression and full of opportunity.
“Moving to a new country and adapting to a different culture is already a stressful experience and misconceptions within the community about asylum seekers and refugees only compound these challenges,” she said.
The Bligh Government, through Multicultural Affairs Queensland, provided $30,000 to the Refugee Claimants Support Centre towards the development of the Community Education Kit.
Ms Palaszczuk said the kit promoted racial and religious understanding and aimed to educate people in schools, community groups and organisations.
“The Bligh Government recognises the need to encourage and foster multiculturalism, and we are also committed to welcoming and protecting refugees and legitimate asylum seekers,” she said.
“In their journey here, many refugees have shown extraordinary resilience and perseverance, overcoming adverse conditions and personal tragedy.
“Refugees are survivors. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, like any other citizen.
“I welcome any resource that encourages community understanding of refugees and the issues they face while settling in to their new life here in Queensland,” she said.
The Refugee Claimants Support Centre was established in 1995 to provide vital support to refugee claimants while their applications for protection are determined by the Commonwealth Government.
Funding for the Community Education Kit complements the Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland target of supporting safe and caring communities.
Media contact: David Robertson 3237 1145 or 0410 541 055
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