Rotary Club of Goulburn helping local refugee families

It follows a concept from Canada whereby government identifies refugees in need of adoption and then arranges for financial support and visas to come to Australia.

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That's according to Goulburn CRISP member Ian Anderson, who has been working on a drivers licence program with Rotary Club of Goulburn.

"We are people from different backgrounds," Mr Anderson said.

"CRISP prefer multiple families and multiple connections with our refugees - the idea is that the refugees are not dependent on any one person or organisation in particular. We all bring different skills so that when people move on the refugees are not left high and dry and without support."

Rotary Club of Goulburn is helping local refugees pass their drivers licence test.

"With Rotary we identified that as a really important thing because to have their licence gives these people freedom and autonomy," Mr Anderson said.

"It also opens up employment opportunities."

CRISP in Goulburn and Rotary have so far helped three local refugee families.

"In February 2022 a family from Myanmar came to us through the Red Cross," Mr Anderson said.

"The second family are from Syria. They came under the CRISP program in August, and then the third family was with Red Cross and they came to us from the Ukraine."

All of the refugees come from countries that have been devastated by war.

"They're coming out of horrendous circumstances, so just dealing with the ordinary can be quite traumatic," Mr Anderson said.

He said CRISP in Goulburn was under the Urban Monk charity, which operates under the banner of CRSA. However, it operates independently.

"CSRA provide a framework on how to do things. They give us training and guidance, but we work with the refugees to determine their needs," Mr Anderson said.

"We look at our families that we are linked with and we make a decision as a group."

He said CRISP in Goulburn had three immediate goals in sharing about the refugee programme.

"The first is to make our community aware and to help people understand there are refugees in our midst. The second is to let people who are interested know about Community Refugees Sponsorship Australia [CRSA]. Through CRSA there are community links to CRISP and the Red Cross where other groups of people can come together, including schools, women's or men's groups and churches," Mr Anderson said.

"Our third and primary aim is to recognise Rotary Club of Goulburn for their significant support."

For people including refugees who live in Goulburn being able to drive is "an essential not a luxury".

"If you have been to Goulburn you will know that there's not a lot of public transport so the need to drive here is really important to be able to get around, to get your children to school, and do shopping," Mr Anderson said.

He says an average beginner driver requires 25 lessons to get their licence.

"The cost of a single lesson was about $75 an hour but it's probably gone up now because the cost of fuel has gone up," Mr Anderson said.

"Therefore the cost for a beginner to get a drivers licence is quite expensive. However, these people are refugees who have come here with nothing."

Rotary Club of Goulburn identified the need for refugees to learn to drive earlier this year. It has since stepped in to fund the entire program.

"We've currently got three people who are taking lessons and two of them are absolute beginners, the third is someone who has been driving competently for years but needs to adjust to Australian roads," Mr Anderson said.

"They're all adults over the age of 25, which means they can progress through the system as quickly as they're able. They are all very motivated. They work hard and are keen to get their licences as quickly as possible."

A driving licence provides a level of "independence to be a normal person in our community" for local refugees.

"In one instance a family is able to take their children to and from school and to other events," Mr Anderson said.

"The contrast to this is a woman who is employed part-time. She walks 40 minutes to work, she does her work and then in the early hours of the morning she walks 40 minutes home. If she didn't do this she would lose all of her income paying for taxis, Uber, etc. These are the sort of circumstances we are dealing with."

Rotary Club of Goulburn is a representation of the general community, according to president Geoff Henderson.

"We actually have a reasonably diverse club so I was hopeful that the membership would embrace this concept," he said.

"We have members from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and from India. When Ian came to us with this proposal in relation to CRISP I was fairly confident the club would embrace it because we are multicultural in our makeup."

Mr Henderson said driving was an important part of the refugees establishing themselves economically and socially in the community.

"These kind of things need to be driven from the ground up. Otherwise these people are going to find it much more difficult to assimilate," he said.

"We were pleased to be able to contribute in some way and we will continue to contribute. If the community thinks that embracing refugees is relevant then we should be doing exactly the same because we need to be a reflection of the community in which we are working."

For information about CRISP visit the refugee sponsorship website.