Community groups question Ukraine visa decision

A decision to allow Ukrainian nationals in Australia to have temporary visa extensions has been questioned by other ethnic community groups.

(Getty)

(Transcript from World News Radio)

A decision to allow Ukrainian nationals in Australia to apply for temporary visa extensions has been questioned by groups representing people from other parts of the world experiencing severe unrest.

The federal government is allowing Ukrainian nationals to extend their stays and says it might consider further extensions if the volatile situation in Ukraine worsens.

While not opposing the decision on the Ukrainians, the Australian Syrian Association of Victoria says it feels as though it's not being treated with proper respect.

The association's Said Al Jouni acknowledges a decision by the federal government last October to allow a further 500 Syrian refugees to be settled in Australia.

But he says the conflict in Syria is far worse than what's been happening in Ukraine, with more than 100,000 people killed and millions displaced since the conflict erupted in March 2011.

He says the government's decision on the visas of the Ukrainian nationals makes Australia look less welcoming of people fleeing Syria.

"We feel it is totally unfair to allow with all respect to Ukrainians or any other nationality but we should be fair in our treatment, people are people, when kids, women are killed and they are suffering from hunger, deprivation from medicine we should do something to help them, it's not fair at all to say okay we allow Ukrainian but we don't allow Syrian, I don't see any justification for such action."

The decision on the Ukrainian visas came partially as a result of lobbying by the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations.

Its chairman Stefan Romaniw has many years experience dealing with Australian federal and state governments.

He's a former head of the Victorian Multicultural Commission and once served on the Commonwealth Ministerial Standing Council on Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.

Mr Romaniw says allowing Ukrainians to extend their stay makes sense and it's up to the federal government to determine whether such concessions should be offered to people from other countries.

"In terms of Ukraine and Ukrainians in Australia, we've never abused the system, we always work with the government, we've always been upfront in terms of visa regimes and I think it's just a fair thing to do at this point in time. You know, it's government's decisions to make and whether they're going to extend it to other countries or not."

Mr Al Jouni from the Australian Syrian Association of Victoria says he's not opposed to Australia helping Ukrainian nationals.

But he says the federal government needs to explain why Syrians seem to be a lower priority.

"I welcome everyone. We have to help those people who suffer. My question why we are helping 'a', not helping 'b'? Shouldn't we be fair in our assessment and our treatment? If there is any reason that we are not accepting Syrian but we are accepting Ukrainian and if there is such a reason we would like to hear from the government, to tell us we don't accept Syria for the following reason."

A South Sudanese community representative in Victoria, Ambrose Mareng is also troubled by the decision.

Gaining independence from Sudan in 2011 has failed to bring about ongoing peace to South Sudan.

Hundreds-of-thousands people have had to flee their homes because of the latest fighting between rival groups.

Mr Mareng agrees with Said Al Jouni that Ukrainian nationals appear to be getting special treatment.

"What happened in South Sudan completely is beyond recognition, it's beyond doubt, beyond explanation. It killed many people, children died, women died and a lot of people displaced even nowadays. So I don't know, that's the question that we ask ourselves. Why others are favoured more than others?"