4 J) SXI PRCESS. STA TEMENT NO. 538
6 August 1975
ENTRY OF FURTHER GROUP OF VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
The Prime Minister announced today that Australia
had agreed to resettle approximately 300 more refugees
from Vietnam. The refugees will be flown by chartered Qantas 747
jet to Brisbane on Saturday morning, 9 August, where they
are due at 11.00 a. m.
They will be resettled in Brisbane, where Queensland
authorities have assured support and assistance.
At present about two-thirds of the refugees are on
St Jphn's Island in Singapore harbour, with the remainder
on Perhentian Island off the East coast of Malaysia.
In June Australia selected 200 refugees who have been
settled in East Hills, Sydney,
Mr Whitlam said that as part of its commitment to
the United Nations High Commission for Refugees program
Australia had now taken refugees from Hong Kong,
Singapore and Malaysia.
In each case, Mr Whitla-m said, Australia had. selected
refugees who were least likely to be selected for entry to
other countries and those who appeared most in need of the
humanitarian assistance which entry to Australia would provide.
Most of the refugees have no recognised skills or
qualifications and under normal migration criteria would not be
eligible for entry to Australia. They would need extensive
long-term assistance from the Australian Government and the
community, Mr Whitlam said.
He recalled his announcement of 23 July of a long-term
study of the Vietnamese refugees and the problems which they
encounter and said that he hoped this study would identify
early any problems which refugees were facing and the means of
resolving them. ./ 2
2.
Mr Whitlam said the refugees ranged in age from
infants to an 81 year old woman, and included a Cistercian
Monk, a former interpreter for an Australian civil
affairs unit stationed in Phuoc Tuy Province, a number
of single parent families and a number of adolescents who
had become separated from their parents.
He emphasised that in their immediate resettlement all
the refugees would be provided with the maximum assistance
available through agencies of the Australian Government
for housing, welfare, language training and employment.
Mr Whitlam expressed his gratitude for assistance
provided to the Australian Immigration selection team by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the
Governments of Singapore and Malaysia.
CkNBERRA, A. C. T.