Queenslanders open arms, homes to refugees
FIRST ON 7: Hundreds of Queensland households are waiting to take in refugees, who are instead being put up in motels.
In a suburban home on the Sunshine Coast, a refugee is learning the Australian way of life.
"No Sri Lanka life, no camp life, this is a very different life, so I like this life," Suresh Kumar says.
He fled Sri Lanka, risked his life on a boat and spent one year in detention for a job at Hungry Jacks and a home with a host family.
"We've got two boys and they just play with him, so it's like he's just a brother," host Corinne Smallman told 7News.
"They can't respect our culture if they don't understand it.
"It's breeding racism."
Hundreds of families in suburbs across Queensland are waiting to take in refugees.
Thousands are being released from detention centres on bridging visas but few reach host families.
Since Christmas, it's pretty well slowed right down to zero and we can't quite understand why that would be happening," Daid Bycroft from the Australian Homestay Network said.
Instead, boat people are being temporarily placed in motels, hotels or group housing, costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year.
"As a taxpayer, I would say we are misusing resources," another host Wal Anderson says.
The Red Cross has a multi-million dollar government contract to organise accommodation.
"... asylum seekers make the choice about the most appropriate option for themselves," it said in a statement.
