Lebanese welfare The Australian 13 September 2006

13 SEPTEMBER 2006.

John Stapleton

LEBANESE Australians should be given help learning English and getting a job, not placed on welfare, the NSW Opposition claimed yesterday following reports that people evacuated from the the Middle East were receiving priority access to welfare and public housing.

NSW Liberal Leader Peter Debnam accused NSW Premier Morris Iemma of encouraging a welfare mentality amongst Lebanese Australians. ``Why won't Morris Iemma give priority to learning English and getting a job than going straight onto welfare?'' Mr Debnam asked.

The furor followed a taxpayer funded forum at Rockdale Townhall in Sydney's south, hosted by the Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural NSW, where state and federal agencies detailed entitlements for those arriving from Middle East. A housing bureaucrat told the meeting that with the recent fighting in Lebanon, some people had been given priority housing. This was despite a public housing waiting list of more than 53,000 in NSW.

``Morris Iemma seems determined to defend his welfare workshop, but why doesn't he help these evacuees get a job and learn English?'' Mr Debnam said.

Sydney's talkback radio, where issues over muslim integration have received intensive coverage in recent days, ran hot.

NSW Shadow Minister for Housing Mr Greg Aplin said the government had been caught out. ``The government organised this event and promised all sorts of priority treatment, including waiving rental bonds,'' he said. ``They have been found out offering to a section of the community enticements which are not readily available to people who have been on waiting lists for years. It is no wonder the public is outraged.''

Premier Iemma denied the claims. ``No one gets special treatment,'' he said. ``There are criteria for access to public housing and they are applied universally.''

Acting NSW Housing Minister Dianne Beamer said the government was unable to provide figures on how many Lebanese Australians had been housed in the past few weeks because ethnicity was not a criteria.

Head of the NSW Housing Department Mike Allen said it was untrue minority groups were treated differently. He claimed the Rockdale forum was no different to any other community information night. ``Ethnicity is not a criteria that forms part of our assessment,'' he said. ``There has been no general increase in the levels of priority housing.''

Community leader Kayser Trad said an innocent government information night had been be transformed through the media into public hysteria. ``If we can allow talkback radio to turn this into a racial issue we have descended very low,'' he said.

President of the Australian Lebanese Association Phillip Rizk was also critical. ``If a person who is a genuine Australian doesn't have residence of any kind and found himself having to come back to Sydney, what do we do? Put them in Hyde Park?''

Chair of the Community Relations Commission Stepan Kerkyasharian said it would be a sad day when a government department was forced to ask an Australian in need what their ethnicity was. ``Is that the kind of Australia we want?''