Sydney (dpa) - An Australian town council was accused of pandering to racist sentiment Friday after it turned away a group of Sudanese refugees who had hoped to settle there.

Tamworth, in the south-east corner of Australia, voted against accepting five Sudanese families brought in under a federal government scheme that this year will provide new homes for 12,000 refugees.

Tamworth Mayor James Treloar told The Sydney Morning Herald that a majority of the 50,000 townsfolk were against accepting more Sudanese because of their criminality. He said that "of the 12 Sudanese people who live in Tamworth, eight have been before the courts for everything from dangerous driving to rape."

Warren Woodley, a Tamworth councillor, told national broadcaster ABC that he was outraged that the council voted 6-3 against a proposal to resettle as many as 10 Sudanese families a year.

"I hope that the people who voted against the motion will realize that there's a lot of people in Tamworth that support it, and they'll reverse their decision," Woodley said. // © 2006 DPA


Publication date: 15 December 2006   

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