Australian officials are conducting health and security checks on 200 Syrian refugees who are slated for resettlement in Australia, the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has confirmed.
Earlier this month, the then prime minister, Tony Abbott, announced that Australia would make 12,000 extra permanent humanitarian visa places available for Syrians and Iraqis fleeing the conflict in the Middle East.
Families and persecuted minorities registered through the United Nations’ refugee agency, the UNHCR, would be given first preference.
On Thursday, Dutton announced that Australian officials working with the UNHCR have started processing the first group.
“We’ve identified about 200 people already, and we’re going through security and health checks,” the minister told Macquarie Radio. “We will look at those most in need, including persecuted minorities.”
Dutton insisted that Australia was not going to be “slack” when it came to security and background checks.
“We are going to do biometrics testing, we are going to do some DNA testing otherwise, and we are going to search databases to make sure that people who come to this country are not going to pose a threat,” he said. “We offer a helping hand, but we aren’t going to inadvertently let people in who are going to do harm to the men, women and children of Australia.”
Biometrics tests, like fingerprinting, is standard when entering Australia, and the testing of genetic material can be used to confirm lineage for family reunion visas and to determine age in order to counter child trafficking.
A spokeswoman for the immigration minister confirmed that the government was hoping to have the first group resettled in Australia by Christmas, though that was dependent on the speed and ease of health and security checks.
