Peter Dutton’s blanket statement on refugees being illiterate and languishing in welfare queues is off the mark

PETER Dutton paints a picture of “illiterate” refugees soaking up welfare and jobs. This is why he’s dead wrong.

REFUGEES will steal your jobs if you’re not careful. More accurately, those who can read and write will steal your jobs.

The others — a vast majority, if you believe Australia’s Immigration Minister — will languish in Centrelink queues and soak up welfare benefits.

That’s the opinion of Peter Dutton, delivered unapologetically on Sky News on Tuesday night.

“For many people — they won’t be numerate or literate in their own language, let alone English,” he told PM Agenda host Paul Murray.

“For many of them that would be unemployed, they would languish in unemployment queues and on Medicare and the rest of it, so there would be huge cost and there’s no sense in sugar-coating that, that’s the scenario.”

Sam Eisho’s story is proof of the exact opposite. The Sydney businessman arrived in Australia without a cent to his name but he never “languished”. The “huge cost” Mr Dutton refers to? Well, Mr Eisho, 45, contributed more than he ever received and the little help he did get along the way he tried to pay back in one lump sum.

The Iraqi refugee can not only read and write but he’s a civil engineer. When he came to Australia in 1999 he built a thriving construction business and employed 40 people.

He received roughly $18,000 in payments between 1999 and 2001, then one day in 2013 he walked through the doors of the Centrelink office in Maroubra and tried to give an $18,000 cheque to a staff member.

“I said: ‘This is a cheque I want to pay you guys’,” Mr Eisho told News Corp.

“The lady said, ‘Oops, this is the first time I have seen this.’”

After some back and forth between the pair, the successful entrepreneur made the cheque out to the Collector of Public Money. He left a note reading:

I came to Australia destitute and was assisted by Centrelink for quite some months. Eventually, due to the great opportunities in this land, I was able to find work, and then after some time, set up my own business.

Sam Eisho arrived in Australia without a cent to his name. He’s since paid back far more than he has received.

My appreciation for the opportunities of this country are always on my lips. I always feel deep within me the need to repay the money that I received.

Mr Eisho’s journey to Australia was a difficult one. He told Business Insider he was almost killed trying to flee Suddam Hussein’s regime.

Managing to escape, he flew to Turkey then travelled to Greece. He and his wife almost suffocated hiding under furniture in the back of a truck.

Mr Eisho had an advantage many don’t. His uncle was living in Australia and working as a doctor at the time and agreed to sponsor him. But he made his own way through hard work, determined to give back to everybody who had given to him.

He went to TAFE where he secured his builder’s license and started working at Coles and advertising his services in the local newspaper. He soon received a phone call that would change his life and set him on a course of financial stability.

“I left Coles without even any notice, and they started giving me some work, like tiles here, doors there.

“I bought a Toyota Cressida for $500 with savings from Centrelink,” he said.

“And then I applied for a credit card from ANZ. That gave me $5000 … to buy tools, to buy petrol. It was very tough anyway.”

He has since paid back loans from his aunt and donated around $60,000 to hospitals and his daughter’s primary school.

The question of whether or not Australia can afford more refugees is not a new one. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia needs a “reality check”.

“Of course the cost of ensuring people who come here to Australia as a refugee ... is very high. Peter Dutton is pointing out the self-evident fact that it costs a great deal of money to settle people in Australia.”

But Labor’s treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said: “There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Australia who have worked hard, who have educated themselves and their children, and they will be shaking their heads at their minister today in disgust. He owes an apology.”

On the subject of costs, it’s easy to see why the government wants to save where they can. According to the Refugee Action Coalition, it costs $400,000 a year detaining a single asylum seeker on Manus Island or Nauru.