Qld; Protesters heckle Ruddock over immigration policies

AAP General News (Australia)
12-15-1999
Qld; Protesters heckle Ruddock over immigration policies

BRISBANE, Dec 15 AAP - Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock struggled to be heard over
protesters with a loud hailer at the opening of a multicultural centre in Brisbane today.

Uniformed and plain-clothes police outnumbered the handful of protesters who stood
on the footpath and heckled Mr Ruddock a few metres away as he addressed the centre's
opening ceremony.

Chanting "Refugees are welcome, Ruddock's laws are not", the protesters harangued the
minister over the federal government's immigration policies, including why East Timorese
refugees were being sent back to their shattered homeland so soon after escaping it.

Mr Ruddock told the ceremony the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
was encouraging the move, saying the refugees should return to plant crops before the
wet season instead of returning after the wet when it would be harder to provide for themselves
and to rebuild.

"It's a very practical matter," Mr Ruddock said.

The government would continue to put refugees deemed as being in urgent need of settlement
ahead of "queue jumping" by those able to pay people smugglers for illegal entry to Australia.

"My priority is with refugees who are in urgent need over those with the funds and
resources to hire organised crime to assist them," he said.

Australia had a proud record for taking people from other countries, with 23 per cent
of the nation's population born overseas, Mr Ruddock said.

"No other country in per capita terms resettles as many people as Australia," he said.

AAP rad/cjh

KEYWORD: BOAT RUDDOCK

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