VOA常速英语2007-Australia to 'Temporarily' Refuse Refugees from

By Phil Mercer
Sydney
04 October 2007

Australia has announced a temporary freeze on the settlement of refugees from Africa, including those from Sudan's Darfur region. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews says the refugees had trouble integrating into Australian society, and that refugee requests from other parts of the world, such as Iraq and Burma, are being given higher priority at the moment. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

 

In recent years Australia has accepted more refugees from Africa than anywhere else - up to 70 percent of the country's total humanitarian¹ intake².

 

In a major policy shift, however, new acceptances from Africa are being frozen until at least June of next year.

 

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews says instead of taking in Africans seeking asylum³, the authorities must give more help to those fleeing Iraq and Burma.

Andrews says Sudanese refugees in particular have been having problems adjusting to the Australian way of life.

 

"We do have a responsibility to the Australian community to ensure that when people come to Australia they're able to adequately settle in this country, and we have detected that there have been additional challenges in relation to some of the people that have come from Africa over the last few years," said Andrews.

 

Refugee advocates have called the government's decision "unsympathetic" and "hypocritical".

 

They have voiced fears that come next June, the freeze will simply be extended.

Government critics say the freeze is a pre-election move to win the support of voters worried about rising levels of immigration. The Africans have not always been welcome here.

 

Last year councilors in the town of Tamworth in New South Wales voted against resettling Sudanese refugees after they were branded as criminals by the local mayor.

 

Nationwide condemnation⁴ of the mayor's comments was so fierce, however, that officials were forced to reverse that decision.

 

Despite the controversy⁵ over immigration policies, tens of thousands of African refugees have made new lives here - arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Liberia and Angola as well as Sudan.

 

One community leader said they have made a huge contribution to society by taking jobs that many Australians simply refused to do.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

3 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

4 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

5 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。