Recently, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, Akoch Manheim, coordinator of the Sudanese Lost Boys Association of Australia, organised an Appreciation Day where the newly arrived South Sudanese community engaged in some community work. Despite the jubilant atmosphere and images of the South Sudanese men, woman and children planting trees in the park, the most remarkable aspect of this event was that it happened at all.
The day served two purposes. One was to thank Australia for granting them a new life after the terror and bloodshed of their homeland. The other was to rectify the misleading image perpetrated by some of Australia’s media and politicians that the Sudanese community are a bunch of refugee thugs.
The fact that 25-year-old Akoch managed to get the day off the ground, despite the lack of assistance, is indicative of this much maligned community’s desire to contribute to Australian society.
The Immigration Minister, Mr Kevin Andrews, recently declared that he will soon be drafting a proposal to drastically reduce the refugee intake from the Horn of Africa Nations, citing the apparent lawlessness of African refugees. "Successful immigration means integrating to the wider community", he said sternly, omitting the fact that integration is a two-way process.
It seemed that the Tamworth City Council was also oblivious to this concept last year when it rejected five Sudanese families' settlement in the community. The council feared that it could "lead to a Cronulla riots-type situation". Tamworth Mayor James Treloar even went as far as stating that Sudanese refugees could cause a tuberculosis outbreak in the community.
In January there was widespread media coverage of around 1500 well organised hoons and spectators gathered for illegal 'burnouts' in Noble Park, in suburban Melbourne. This was followed by rioting, police taunting and concluded with the systematic looting of public and private property. The response from Dandenong Councillor Alan Gordon to the rioting was that "they are just a few kids going out on a Friday night".
Contrast this reaction to that of Dandenong Councillor Peter Brown a week prior, when a local Sudanese youth was arrested after an incident at a private function. In a shrill letter to the Age, Councillor Brown lamented how Australia’s refugee policy has turned his beloved Dandenong into a 'repository' of all the world’s ethnic crisises, and that "the problems at Noble Park station were not there before the jumbos flew in".
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