Asylum-seekers are not criminals Immigration Minister tells angry residents

Chris Bowen has rejected claims people campaigning against detention centres being built in their communities are racists.

But the Immigration Minister insists asylum-seekers are safe and unlikely to escape detention and break the law.

Mr Bowen is trying to hose down community concerns after a meeting in Northam, about 100km northeast of Perth, on Thursday night in which the Department of Immigration and the local council answered questions from angry residents about the plan to house 1500 asylum-seekers in the community.

West Australian Labor senator Glenn Sterle was invited to the meeting but left when he was denied a chance to address the nearly 700-strong audience by the meeting's facilitator, former state Labor MP Gavan Troy.

Many residents raised concerns about the detention centre's impact on Northam's already strained and understaffed hospital and the contingency plans in place if there were a riot.

Senator Sterle condemned the constant "heckling and throwing of racist statements" for drowning out what were some genuine concerns about the centre.

Mr Bowen said he believed in freedom of speech and people should be able to raise views.

The meeting was dominated by people voicing intense hostility to the detention centre and to asylum-seekers, with some labelling them "criminals" who could escape and attack local women.

Mr Bowen said there had been very few escapes from detention centres.

"I'm not aware of any evidence that people who do escape from detention centres on very rare occasions undertake criminal acts," he said. "All the evidence shows that people while their claims are being processed conduct themselves in a perfectly appropriate way."

Liberal Premier Colin Barnett called on the Gillard government to halve the number of male asylum-seekers planned for the Northam detention centre, saying he understood the "great anxiety" expressed by furious locals. But he said T-shirts with "Bomb their boats" written on them worn by two residents at the meeting were inappropriate. He said it showed the issue needed to be handled carefully and there should have been proper prior consultation.

Northam resident Chris David yesterday claimed the meeting had been hijacked by a vocal minority bent on fearmongering.

Another resident, Nigel Sutton, said he was shocked when he heard One Nation state deputy president Lyn Vickery tell the meeting asylum-seekers would "slit your throat".

theaustralian.com.au 6 Nov 2010

More deliberate Government Lies in the face of the nation in order to cover up the failure of the immigration system.

It is a fact that the suburbs (for example) in Sydney or Melbourne which house specific ethnic groups, shows that there is a HIGHER crime rate, than amongst other suburbs.

This fact is well known to the law enforcers (Police).

Stealing cars, re boding of prestige vehicles, drug manufacturing and dealing are CRIMINAL offences, therefore the people committing those crimes are CRIMINALS.

Many ethnic nationalities have racist backgrounds, BUT it is taboo to talk openly about this.

More deliberate lies propagated by the government to hide its failures.