NORTHERN Grampians councillors have floated the idea of an asylum seeker detention centre and refugee resettlement program to arrest declining population in the shire.
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Former mayor and Stawell ward councillor Wayne Rice said the shire had experienced significant population decline since 2010.
“There’s no reason why we couldn’t have a detention centre in the Northern Grampians Shire; it’s better than having a prison,” he said.
“I think it would create employment and it would get those people to come into the shire, with a view that they might settle here.
“That might be one way that we could build our population.”
Cr Rice said a recent visit to Woomera, in South Australia, where there was a controversial detention centre until 2003, had shown a centre a few kilometres out of town was the right proximity.
He said a detention centre could potentially boost the shire’s economy across a range of sectors.
“There’s employment in the detention centre, employment in health fields, social workers and catering,” he said.
Council’s August Economic Development and Partnerships Report showed health care services, residential care and social assistance accounted for more than 15 per cent of the shire’s jobs.
Cr Rice said once detainees had been processed and approved, they could assimilate into the community.
“I think the whole community could benefit,” he said.
Kara Kara ward councillor Tony Driscoll said the shire needed to provide a workforce to attract industry.
“The reality is if we need to attract business to our shire and we need a workforce to satisfy that business, maybe we need to be more creative in terms of refugee settlement programs,” he said.
Cr Driscoll said the shire could learn from the example of Nhill’s Karen refugee population, many of whom were working at poultry producer Luv-a-Duck.
“It’s a creative approach, but maybe we could look at something similar to what they are doing in Nhill with Luv-a-Duck,” he said.
“If we want to create industry and the industries say, ‘well okay, have you got people or employees to service those jobs?’ we’re going to need to be able to supply them.”
Hindmarsh Mayor Rob Gersch said the Karen community had saved Luv-a-Duck.
“Luv-a-Duck would have closed because it could not get enough unskilled labour,” he said.
“The business was looking to develop and there was every chance we could have lost the whole industry.”
Cr Gersch said he believed a ceremony later this month at which 34 Karen refugees would be naturalised would be the biggest of its kind in regional Victoria.
“We’re very proud of our support for multiculturalism,” he said.
