A healthcare staffer who says she is being driven from her town by youth crime has warned of a safety “time bomb” awaiting international arrivals heading to the Kimberley on work visas.
Key points:
- Crime rates spark safety concerns for international workers arriving in the region on migration visas
- East Kimberley Chamber of Commerce says crime is far worse in other regions
- Businesses desperate for staff are hoping workers will give the region a chance
Applications for a new worker visa, known as Designated Area Migration Agreements, have started to roll-in from East Kimberley businesses desperate for staff.
The agreements give employers access to full time staff from anywhere in the world under more flexible conditions than other visas.
A healthcare sector worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said she recently decided to leave an East Kimberley town after children threw stones at her and her husband as they were walking home.
She said her colleagues were heard yelling for help in a separate incident just two days later after a child attacked them with a knife.
The healthcare worker said she was concerned for the safety of people who were heading to the East Kimberley under the migration program.
She said they could be unaware of crime that had impacted the region.
“All they want is to come to Australia and when they come here, they’re going to get terrorised,” she said.
“I would tell them to run the opposite way, just run.”
But East Kimberley Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Amanda McLean said her organisation would provide sufficient support for the new employees.
She said the East Kimberley was a good option for people to live in.
“Despite the challenges that we’re having at the moment with youth crime, our living conditions are often better than many other regions where their crime is far worse,” she said.
But the healthcare worker did not share Ms McLean’s sentiment.
She said she lived only minutes from her workplace but was terrified of walking home.
“If I leave [the town], the others will leave, and no one will be left,” she said.
“No one would work here and what would happen to [the patients]?”
She said “no one” would look after them.
Hoochery Distillery manager Kalyn Fletcher said her Kununurra business was one of many in the region that were optimistic about getting international workers to alleviate staff shortages.
Ms Fletcher hoped workers would give the East Kimberley a chance.
“People can be victims of crime anywhere … I was a victim of crime on the subway in Rome, I was mugged and had all my things stolen. Did that stop me going to Rome?” she said.
She said convincing some of the overseas workers to stay would still be a challenge.
“Even if there was no crime in Halls Creek, to bring someone from London and think that they are going to find Halls Creek appealing is a really difficult scenario,” she said.
“Like it is remote, even for Australians.”
The healthcare staffer said she hoped overseas workers would be thoroughly briefed before coming to Australia.
“They need to include how Halls Creek and the Kimberley works, before they recruit the people,” she said.
But ultimately she said the problem needed to be addressed.
“Our government needs to do something quickly before something bad happens,” she said.
