Refugees start over in Andrew Forrest’s Perth mansion

Billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest has quietly begun housing refugees at his $16 million Perth mansion.

Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest’s $16 million mansion in Cottesloe, Perth.

Billionaire mining magnate ­Andrew Forrest has quietly begun housing refugees at his $16 million Perth beachfront mansion as part of Australia’s special intake of 12,000 additional people fleeing war-torn Syria and Iraq.

The Weekend Australian can reveal a group of Iraqi family members — believed to be three adults and five children, including a baby — moved into the historic 21-room Cottesloe property, known as Tukurua, several weeks ago.

After fleeing war-ravaged Iraq, the group was able to begin settling into Australian life in one of Perth’s finest properties, boasting spectacular views of the Indian Ocean.

Their arrival shows Mr Forrest has made good his pledge last year — during an ugly dispute with the former owner of the property who was refusing to move out — that he would use the iconic house for temporary ­accommodation for Middle Eastern refugees.

That promise is believed to have sparked unease among some Cottesloe locals.

Mr Forrest and his family live in a separate house in Cottesloe, about 600m away from Tukurua.

A spokesman for Mr Forrest’s Minderoo charity said the Iraqis had stayed at Tukurua since they arrived in Perth but had recently moved into permanent accommodation.

He said Mr Forrest planned to host more refugees from the Middle East conflict at the house as Australia’s one-off intake from Syria and Iraq continued growing.

“When a sudden influx of families arrived in early 2016, we were approached by a resettlement agency to provide temporary ­accommodation for two families brought to WA under the special Syrian-Iraqi refugee program,” Mr Forrest’s spokesman said..

“The extended family was ­accommodated in the property until they found long-term ­accommodation, which they have now secured.

“Minderoo hopes to provide further support of this nature in the future.”

Locals say the Iraqis who stayed at Tukurua were Christians and even attended the same church as Mr Forrest and his wife Nicola. However, they spoke limited English.

Mr Forrest ran into a public ­relations nightmare when it was revealed that the elderly former owner of Tukurua, Ted Smith, was refusing to settle on the sale, alleging his real estate agent pressured him to sign a contract in just 30 minutes and he had no idea what he was doing.

Mr Smith also argued the $16m sale was significantly less than the price he had directed his agent to put forward.

The dispute was resolved in December and Mr Smith, 82, has since moved out.

The Department of Social Services said yesterday that more than 350 Syrian and Iraqis refugees had been resettled so far as part of the government’s ­additional 12,000 intake.

The one-off intake was announced by then prime minister Tony Abbott last year and the first refuges under the program ­arrived in Perth in November.

Immigration and Border Protection has been criticised for the length of time it has taken to process the refugees.