A PUBLIC forum held last week clarified that the Federal government will not create a separate visa for South African farmers looking to leave their country in the face of political turmoil.
The forum, held at Lakelands, was a chance for attendees to express their concerns about the issue to Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge.
More than 600 people attended, with many people sharing stories of violent physical and sexual attacks suffered by their families, neighbours and friends in South Africa.
Forum organiser Andrew Hastie, MP for the federal electorate of Canning, said Australia should be responding to the awful situations endured by many South African farmers.
“Australia has a generous, non-discriminatory humanitarian visa program that is able to respond to need and crises,” Mr Hastie said.
“Since the 1970s our nation has accepted suffering people from around the world through this program and we should be proud of that.”
Mr Hastie shared a story of a mother in South Africa, who on March 23 was at home with her three children aged 15, 13 and 9 years.
An attacker entered their home and fired several shots at her son’s head as he was sitting on the couch, she was shot and later raped while her other children managed to escape.
“I spoke to this woman on the phone for half an hour, while she resides in Port Elizabeth and stays with friends because she is too scared and traumatised to go back to her house on the family orchard,” Mr Hastie said.
“Ladies and gentlemen there is a serious problem in South Africa, people are being persecuted and people are living in fear.”
South African community leader Sake Van Der Merwe said the minister had come to listen to what forum participants had to say and they were not demanding anything, but asking for help.
Accusations have been made that white farmers would be favoured in visa processing, although Mr Van Der Meer was adamant that there is proof of racial vilification.
“We are being accused of things that we know are not true, all lives matter to us, whether it is pink, black, white, purple, whatever you are, we care,” he said.
“It is just that the white farmers are being singled out apparently – of the nearly 2000 farmers, most of them tortured to death, the vast majority, about 98 per cent, were white.”
Mr Tudge said Mr Hastie is the main person who has put this issue on the agenda.
“We would like recognise the fact that we are acutely aware of some of the issues which are occurring in South Africa,” Mr Tudge said.
He said unfortunately there were tens of millions of displaced people and refugees worldwide, with a United Nations estimate of 21 million people.
“As a nation we cannot take everybody who seeks refuge but we have to do our share and we do our share,” he said.
“We have been lifting the numbers quite steadily over the years, next financial year we will rise to 18,750 people who will come in through that humanitarian category and there are sub-classes to that.”
There are a few visa categories available for South African people who wish to legally enter Australia.
Mr Tudge ran through these options for South African families and concerned members of the community so they could relay this information back to South Africa.
There is a Skills Migration Program, which used to be the 457 visa program and is now called TSS, which has an age restriction of under 45 years and the applicant must have a specific skill.
Humanitarian visas are for people who are facing persecution and wish to seek refuge in Australia.
Mr Hastie said “that program is able to respond to need and crises and has done so for people all over the world and I believe the terrible crimes that these farmers face qualify them for consideration under that program.”
Mr Tudge announced a special visa class would be trialled from July 1.
“It is called a special humanitarian visa category subclass 202 and within that there is an element that is coming into place, that community-supported place, which in essence is where people will sponsor a person who is being persecuted into Australia with a job which they offer with some financial assistance,” he said.
Labor released an email the morning of the forum stating Mr Hastie was “out of touch” as they asked members to contribute more money in their bid to win the seat of Canning and rid Mr Hastie of his position.
The email, authorised by Labor Senator Louise Pratt said “Andrew Hastie has joined a group of extreme right wingers wanting to change Australia’s humanitarian visa program to give special treatment to white South Africans”.
It continued to say “he is holding a public meeting in Canning to get support for ending the current non-discriminatory humanitarian visa system” and finished with a link to “donate now to win the seat of Canning for Labor”.
“This email is a new low from the Labor Party and from Louise Pratt,” Mr Hastie said.
“Trying to fundraise off the back of people who are suffering persecution and personal tragedy is repugnant.”
Pastoral and Graziers Association (PGA) past president Barry Court was at the forum to voice his opinion of the agricultural opportunities.
“Similar violence occurred in Zimbabwe and I contacted the people there and advised them that we will be able to help them if they came to WA,” he said.
Mr Court offered a similar deal at the forum stating that farmers of WA, and himself, will be of any help they can of employing South African refugees.
“We don’t expect you to buy farms because the currency exchange is a bit different, but we will certainly help you finding jobs on farms in WA and showing you around the State,” Mr Court said.
PGA president Tony Seabrook said the group strongly endorses bringing South Africans into Australia.
“They have a terrific fit, they have a common language, common occupation, a good work ethic, and I think of the humanitarian issues there, the fact that they are at risk to the extent they are, they tick all the box in regards to bringing people into Australia that are at risk,” Mr Seabrook said.
“Certainly amongst our membership, we are more than happy to let them all know that there is an opportunity here to employ experienced people with a familiarity to living in the bush.”
Mr Seabrook said they encourage the government to do what ever it can to facilitate the migration to Australia for these South African farmers.
The Farm Machinery and Industry Association of WA (FMIA) executive officer John Henchy said anything that is going to be positive for agriculture is a good move.
“If you are talking about people who have experience in the mechanisation industry, certainly from a service perspective, yes that would be an advantage and if they have experience in servicing equipment absolutely,” Mr Henchy said.
“Put it this way, a lot of Australians are reluctant to work in the bush, so if we can get people who are comfortable in coming to the country areas, it has got to be a plus.”
farmers are being singled out apparently – of the nearly 2000 farmers, most of them tortured to death, the vast majority, about 98 per cent, were white.”
Mr Tudge said Mr Hastie is the main person who has put this issue on the agenda.
“We would like to recognise the fact that we are acutely aware of some of the issues which are occurring in South Africa,” Mr Tudge said.
He said unfortunately there were tens of millions of displaced people and refugees worldwide, with a United Nations estimate of 21 million people.
“As a nation we cannot take everybody who seeks refuge but we have to do our share and we do our share,” he said.
“We have been lifting the numbers quite steadily over the years, next financial year we will rise to 18,750 people who will come in through that humanitarian category and there are sub-classes to that.”
There are a few visa categories available for South African people who wish to legally enter Australia.
Mr Tudge ran through these options for South African families and concerned members of the community so they could relay this information back to South Africa.
There is a Skills Migration Program, which used to be the 457 visa program and is now called TSS, which has an age restriction of under 45 years and the applicant must have a specific skill.
Humanitarian visas are for people who are facing persecution and wish to seek refuge in Australia.
Mr Hastie said “that program is able to respond to need and crises and has done so for people all over the world and I believe the terrible crimes that these farmers face qualify them for consideration under that program”.
Mr Tudge announced a special visa class would be trialled from July 1.
“It is called a special humanitarian visa category subclass 202 and within that there is an element that is coming into place, that community-supported place, which in essence is where people will sponsor a person who is being persecuted into Australia with a job which they offer with some financial assistance,” he said.
Labor released an email the morning of the forum stating Mr Hastie was “out of touch” as they asked members to contribute more money in their bid to win the seat of Canning and rid Mr Hastie of his position.
The email, authorised by Labor Senator Louise Pratt said “Andrew Hastie has joined a group of extreme right wingers wanting to change Australia’s humanitarian visa program to give special treatment to white South Africans”.
It continued to say “he is holding a public meeting in Canning to get support for ending the current non-discriminatory humanitarian visa system” and finished with a link to “donate now to win the seat of Canning for Labor”.
“This email is a new low from the Labor Party and from Louise Pratt,” Mr Hastie said.
“Trying to fundraise off the back of people who are suffering persecution and personal tragedy is repugnant.”
Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA) past president Barry Court was at the forum to voice his opinion of the agricultural opportunities.
“Similar violence occurred in Zimbabwe and I contacted the people there and advised them that we would be able to help them if they came to WA,” he said.
Mr Court offered a similar deal at the forum stating that farmers of WA, and himself, will be of any help they can in employing South African refugees.
“We don’t expect you to buy farms because the currency exchange is a bit different, but we will certainly help you finding jobs on farms in WA and showing you around the State,” Mr Court said.
PGA president Tony Seabrook said the group strongly endorses bringing South Africans into Australia.
“They have a terrific fit, they have a common language, common occupation, a good work ethic, and I think of the humanitarian issues there, the fact that they are at risk to the extent they are, they tick all the box in regards to bringing people into Australia that are at risk,” Mr Seabrook said.
“Certainly amongst our membership, we are more than happy to let them all know that there is an opportunity here to employ experienced people with a familiarity to living in the bush.”
Mr Seabrook said they encourage the government to do what ever it can to facilitate the migration to Australia for these South African farmers.
The Farm Machinery and Industry Association of WA (FMIA) executive officer John Henchy said anything that is going to be positive for agriculture is a good move.
“If you are talking about people who have experience in the mechanisation industry, certainly from a service perspective, yes that would be an advantage and if they have experience in servicing equipment absolutely,” Mr Henchy said.
“Put it this way, a lot of Australians are reluctant to work in the bush, so if we can get people who are comfortable in coming to the country areas, it has got to be a plus.”
