PARRAMATTA lord mayor John Chedid backed a proposal for asylum-seeker processes to include a code of conduct and reporting procedures despite public criticism of the plan.
Cr Chedid, who migrated to Australia during the Lebanese civil war, said the focus should be on communication and education.
‘‘As someone who migrated from a war-torn country to this wonderful country Australia, my parents made it very clear we should respect and embrace the Australian way of life,’’ he said.
‘‘Like any country in the world there are rules and regulations of how we expect people to behave.
‘‘We owe it to the people of Parramatta and Australia that they know what is going on in their local area . . . as well as protecting asylum seekers.’’
Last week Opposition spokesman Scott Morrison said the government was not keeping track of asylum seekers after reports a Sri Lankan man, 21, who had been arrested for alleged sexual assault, was among 10 Sri Lankans relocated to a house in Parramatta.
They were later evicted as residential use of the site was prohibited.
Mr Morrison wants to review procedures for asylum seekers released from detention which include notifying police and the community and the establishment of behaviour protocols.
Parramatta City councillor Shahadat Chowdhury, who migrated to Australia from Bangladesh in 1991, was against the idea that asylum seekers must report to police,
‘‘It’s ridiculous in the sense we are victimising a group of people who are already vulnerable,’’ Cr Chowdhury said.
‘‘You can’t have one set of rules for some people and a completely different set for another who might look different.’’
Tamil activist Saradha Nathan said she was concerned that there seems a trend to link all refugees as the same.
‘‘We shouldn’t generalise about refugees and tar everyone with the same brush,’’ she said.