Federal Election 2016: Muslim pioneers paved way in Katanning

Sisters Petley Alam and Zanah Hangelund are pioneers of a ­great migration success story.

Peter Dutton with Zanah Hangelund, left, and her sister Petley Alam, in purple, at the Kataning mosque in the seat of O'Connor. Picture: Colin Murty

Sisters Petley Alam and Zanah Hangelund are pioneers of a ­migration success story that ­Immigration Minister Peter Dutton describes as one of Australia’s greatest since World War II.

The Muslim grandmothers yesterday welcomed Mr Dutton to their hometown of Katanning, a farming community 300km southeast of Perth that counts more than 40 nationalities among its 4000 residents in the seat of O’Connor.

Since Ms Alam and Ms Hangelund arrived in Katanning in 1973, leaving behind their Indian Ocean home, the portion of Muslim residents in the town has grown to 10 per cent.

The two women were born on the former British colony of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, now an Australian territory, and were among the first in a steady stream of island residents of Malay descent to take up Australian citizenship and a new life in Katanning. The big drawcard was and still is the promise of work at the local abattoir that practices halal slaughter.

Now the state’s only regional mosque is in Katanning, though the town’s welcoming reputation has also attracted Christian, Buddhist and Sikh migrants.

Accompanied by Liberal MP Rick Wilson, who grew up with many of Katanning’s first Muslim migrants, Mr Dutton yesterday toured the abattoir that employs more than 320 men and women, most of them migrant workers or refugees including from Myanmar, Vietnam, China and Afghanistan. The business is looking for more staff.

He also met representatives from Katanning’s refugee community who are settling there as part of Australia’s annual humanitarian intake. This year Australia will select 13,750 such refugees, some from camps across Africa. The humanitarian intake will rise to 18,750 by 2018-19. From the vast numbers of Syrians and Iraqis forced to flee their war-torn homelands, a one-off additional intake of 12,000 people, costing more than $700 million, is under way. Mr Dutton has estimated Labor’s proposal to increase Australia’s humanitarian intake to 37,000 a year would cost $2.3 billion.

And he has criticised the Greens’ proposed annual humanitarian intake of 50,000, which he estimates would cost $7bn.

He yesterday described Katanning’s Muslim community as one of the great post-war successes, in part because the arrivals were at a “measured and sensible” pace. Also, the migrants worked very hard.

“If you look at the workforce that came from Cocos Islands and Christmas Island, they had a very strong work ethic, they have continued that work ethic, they have instilled that work ethic into their children and grandchildren and they have become great Australians,” Mr Dutton said.

“It’s a great story. The question is if you tripled that number overnight would you be able to provide the level of support required?’’