Perth Voice Interactive

AFGHAN interpreters who’d helped Australian troops fight the Taliban are working minimum wage jobs in rural WA.

For their own safety some 800 Afghanis who’d aided the Allies were relocated here after Australia’s withdrawal last year. Around 30 ended up in WA and are being helped to build a new life by the Multicultural Services Centre in North Perth.

“The Afghanis are very proud people with a great work ethic,” says MSC chief Pius Joseph.

“They don’t want to sit about and claim benefits. A lot of them come from farming backgrounds so they are hardy and want to earn money to send back to their families.”

Mr Joseph says the Afghani refugees—all males aged between 25 and 35— have good English but lack the social skills and expertise to work in mining.

Farms in New Norcia and Margaret River have signed up to the program, employing the men to do seasonal harvest work, including baling straw and vine pruning.

Mr Joseph hopes to expand the program and is holding a jobs forum at the MSC to encourage more employers to sign up: “The program not only benefits the Australian economy but helps the refugees,” he says. “It’s good for everyone.”

For 33 years the MSC has been helping refugees integrate into Perth society, including a large number of Karenni refugees from Burma and Thailand.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK