On Australia Day, Councils and communities large and small once again celebrated in various ways their pride in our nation. An important part of most celebrations is the opportunity for our newer, and in some cases not so new, residents taking the step to become Australian citizens.
However, in Cowra in regional New South Wales, part of its celebrations saw hundreds of residents being prepared to stand up and be counted in their support for a local family, not able to take out citizenship but rather facing the possibility of deportation. See article on page 8.
Taiwanese immigrants, the Lai family has been in Australia for nine years. The three children, the youngest being born in Australia, are according to Council “very much Aussie kids”. The disruption to the life of this family, who have become very involved in the local community through school, their church and sports groups, if they were to be deported would be enormous.
In addition to the strong local support for the Lai family to be able to stay, a chance interview as part of the ABC radio’s Australia All Over, resulted in this case gaining national media attention. Jung (John) Chun Lai talked about his market garden venture, the opportunities and his pride in living in Australia. It was a great feel good story. Shortly after listeners were somewhat perplexed when Cowra Shire’s Manager Strategy and Growth, Graham Apthorpe, phoned in to point out that the Lai family was facing deportation just after the New Year. Emails and text messages from listeners around the nation streamed in, the story was covered by other media outlets, as well as some local politicians lending their support to the Lai’s situation.
The Immigration Department has since extended the family’s visa until April and Cowra Shire is hopeful of a positive outcome enabling the family to settle here permanently.
With its residents representing over 50 different ethnic groups, Cowra is very proud of its cultural mix. Graham Althorpe believes that if regional centres don’t reflect the advantages that come from the multicultural mix in capital cities they could end up being viewed as a backwater. He rightly pointed out that one of the reasons why some towns are flourishing while others languish is that areas continually need new people and their new ideas to be moving into the region. The sea change and tree change is helping greatly but many of these new residents are retirees. Towns also need young families and a huge source that can be drawn on is newly arrived immigrants.
Local Government can play a pivotal role in assisting immigrants settle into their new lives. Various Government programs can be sourced to help in this regard. The Queensland LAMP program (see page 1 story) is just one of these.
