One year ago, former prime minister Tony Abbott promised to take in an additional 12,000 Iraqi and Syrian refugees.
The pledge was in addition to the Government's planned global humanitarian intake of just over 13,700.
But in a joint statement, six of Australia's leading humanitarian and human rights organisations have condemned the Government for failing to live up to its promise.
Government figures show well under one-third of that number - 3,532 - have actually been resettled.
World Vision, CARE, Save the Children, Plan International, Oxfam and Amnesty International are calling on the Government to resettle the rest by the end of March next year.
World Vision chief executive Tim Costello says he finds the Government's record incomprehensible.
He says Canada, which made its promise two months after Australia, has managed to resettle 30,000 people.
"We know the desperation of these people. That's why we were so touched, and, really, the community led Tony Abbott to make this promise. We know that, when you make a promise and raise expectations, you have to deliver. Canada has. We, by contrast, haven't, and we don't know the reason."
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is defending the progress made so far.
He says visas have been issued to more than half (6,678) of the 12,000 Syrians and Iraqis, with about 6,000 more awaiting the outcome of health, character and security checks.
Defending the delay, Mr Dutton has told the ABC he will not compromise the security of Australia.
"I've been very clear that my priority is to make sure I never compromise the security of our country."
He says the Canadian experience is different.
"Well, Canada has a very different approach to the security checks that they're conducting, and the scrutiny that we apply is greater than Canada, there's no question about that."
Asked why this was, he replied, "Well, because we want to make sure that we aren't bringing people into our country who would seek to do us harm."
Canada's refugee intake of Syrians is a mix of government and private sponsorship.
Thousands of community organisations and citizen groups there have privately sponsored refugees at their own cost, usually providing financial support for one year after arrival.
Australia has a similar scheme, called the Community Proposal Pilot, or CPP, but on a much smaller scale.
Refugee Council of Australia policy officer Asher Hirsch says the cost, starting at around $30,000 per person for visa charges, is too expensive for many sponsors.
"The CPP program was intentionally set up to be like the Canadian program, where community members and church groups and others can sponsor people to come over. But because of the massive demand for family reunion in Australia as well, the majority of people using the program have been family members instead, which is partly a problem of the problems of family reunion and also, I think, more needs to be done to improve the community aspect of the program."
Tim Costello, with World Vision, says the goodwill and potential for more private sponsorship in Australia is huge.
"Country towns, regional cities, who actually want refugees, who have had experience ... in Shepparton, in my state in Victoria, with wonderful experiences of them coming to work and saving the abbatoirs and rekindling businesses. And, in this case, being Afghan Muslim, not drinking, is having a profound impact even on the Aboriginal community, who respect them much more than they respect whites because of their discipline. It's these wonderful stories, and private sponsors should be part of that story."
Share
