Pauline Hanson labels refugee retirement home housing plan a ‘disgrace’

PAULINE Hanson has slammed a plan to house Syrian and Iraqi refugees alongside elderly residents at a retirement village as an “absolute disgrace”.

Syrian and Iraqi refugees will begin moving into a Victorian retirement village in coming weeks under a plan which has caused controversy in the local community. Picture: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP

ONE Nation Senator Pauline Hanson has slammed a controversial plan to house 120 Syrian and Iraqi refugees alongside residents at a Victorian retirement village as an “absolute disgrace”.

The refugee families will begin arriving at St Vincent’s Care in Eltham in coming weeks after the Andrews Government fast-tracked a planning decision to allow under-65s to live on the grounds.

Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne announced last week he had approved St Vincent’s application to amend the Nillumbik Planning Scheme.

The move has divided the local community and sparked protests earlier this month. Many families of elderly residents are outraged, claiming they were not consulted and describing the move as a “cash grab” by St Vincent’s. St Vincent’s denied that there is a current waiting list for residential aged care at its Eltham facilities.

But supporters of the housing plan have dismissed critics as “right-wing fascist rabble rousers”, saying the refugees will bring “vibrancy” to the area. Australia is taking in 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees, with 4000 to be resettled in Victoria.

St Vincent’s said the 60 refurbished units on the site, which have been vacant for a number of years, are stand-alone and separate from the residential aged care and independent living facilities.

It stressed that the refugees would be made up of single women, single mothers with children and couples with children. No single men will be moving into the accommodation.

“This project reflects our mission to serve the most vulnerable members of our community,” St Vincent’s Health Australia Group chief executive Toby Hall said in a statement last week.

“We have received great support from local community groups who also want to welcome refugees to Eltham.”

St Vincent’s said the refugees would be paying “an affordable level of rent” from their Centrelink payments, with the refugee housing project set to run for two years.

Ms Hanson, speaking on 2GB on Monday night, said she was “absolutely appalled” by the decision. “We have people in nursing homes that don’t get the care or attention they require,” she said.

“We should be looking after our aged, they are the vulnerable in our society. I do not believe that we should be bringing in more refugees in this country if we cannot provide housing for them, let alone putting them into nursing care facilities.

“We have nationally 200,000 Australians who are homeless. It is an absolute disgrace. I feel for these people but we would be better to send the money overseas to these countries, to leave them where they are. It would be better for them, better for us, and would not be such a financial drain on our country.”

In August, one village resident told the Diamond Valley Leader that residents were not consulted about the proposal. “It was either like it or lump it,” the resident said.

“We were told it was going to enliven the community and become a more vibrant and dynamic place, but this is a retirement centre. We’re all waiting here to die.

“Some of the older people are on walking frames and they’re not game to speak up because they’re afraid they’ll be victimised.”

Sixty units at St Vincent's have been refurbished. Picture: Josie Hayden

Pauline Hanson has slammed the decision. Picture: Gary Ramage

The Welcome to Eltham group says there is strong community support.

At a protest rally earlier this month, Sandi Pike said she was worried about her 85-year-old mother at the village, who suffers dementia. “No one seems to care about the residents and that’s what it’s all about,” she told 7 News.

Many in the local community are excited by the news, however. On the same day as the protest, the “Welcome to Eltham” community group gathered to celebrate with champagne and spell out the word “welcome”.

“Do you want to open the gates to somebody who’s had a shocking life and give them the opportunity to share what we share?” Bev Brock, wife of late racing legend Peter Brock, told Nine’s A Current Affair.

“I sort of feel sorry in a way that you’ve got people who don’t really think the big picture through. We don’t want to think of the negatives, we want to think that this is the most positive amazing thing that can happen to them, and we can play a part in that.”

Welcome to Eltham shared a message on its Facebook page, allegedly from a local resident whose mother lives at St Vincent’s, saying they would love the buildings to be used to house the women and children.

“I think it will bring some vibrancy to what has been a rather dreary place for a long time,” they wrote. “I can’t imagine their struggle to get here. I just hope that the community conflict about it, dies down and we are all able to get on with life.”

It comes in the wake of a shock opinion poll last month which found 49 per cent of Australians supported a ban on Muslim immigration, with “integration” and “terrorism” cited as key concerns.

That poll, conducted by Essential on behalf of The Guardian, prompted race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane to hit out at Ms Hanson and warn against “normalising racism”.

In May, a pre-election poll also by Essential, commissioned by SBS, found public opinion had turned against high migrant intakes, with little support for helping Europe resettle Middle Eastern refugees.

Just 28 per cent of respondents in that poll said Australia should increase its refugee intake amid Europe’s migrant crisis, while 59 per cent believed immigration levels over the past decade had been too high.

The poll was a blow to the Coalition, which had pledged to take in 12,000 refugees from the Syrian war in addition to Australia’s annual 13,750 humanitarian intake. The Turnbull Government plans to increase that number to 18,750 by 2018-19.

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