Eric Imani says Syrian refugees will fit in well into the WA community and his centre has the expertise to help them settle.
Camera IconEric Imani says Syrian refugees will fit in well into the WA community and his centre has the expertise to help them settle. Credit: Supplied/Andrew Ritchie        www.communitypix.com.au d443445

Centre happy to help

Lauren PilatEastern Reporter

The comment came after the Australian Government announced it would accept 12,000 refugees from persecuted minorities and provide an extra $44 million toward the crisis.

Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre director Eric Imani said the centre had expected an influx of Syrian refugees and that its services could be extended to meet demand.

"We have got the skills and experience, we have been dealing with the project for 20 years and have a big pool of volunteers, bilinguals and other professionals to get together and help these people," he said.

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"Stirling has the largest number of migrants and refugees and most of the people here arrived on refugee status, they know what their troubles are.

"We worried about these people, we knew they were coming, they should come here.

"It is a big delay, but we are happy to do whatever we can."

Humanitarian settlement services manager Paul Rafferty said Syrian refugees were well-educated, entrepreneurial and business-minded, so they would fit in well into the community.

"We have these resources here and we need people to be here because the generation is ageing, we need younger generations," he said.

"It's a chance for the Australian Government to take these people in and support them in an appropriate way through the program, enabling them to be independent."