Police say the solution is to move young men and their families - including recently arrived and new refugees - to country areas of Victoria such as Mildura (file photo) (ABC)
Much has been written about the problems faced by African refugees when it comes to settling into Australian life.
While most have no problems whatsoever, there are some who do. According to police, too often young men are influenced by drugs and alcohol, which only adds to their problems with settling in.
The solution - they say - is to move young men and their families, including recently arrived and new refugees, to country areas of Victoria, including Mildura in the north and Sale in the east.
Joseph Herrech is a multicultural liaison officer with Victoria Police.
"Settling them in one particular area can, at times, cause some issues," he said.
"That is because [they] obviously have in Victoria higher crime areas and what we've found is that settling any particular culture within a particular area, might predispose them to being involved in those crimes.
"So we've actually advised that perhaps it might be easier for them in relation to settling them in a slightly more rural [setting], so it gives them more opportunities to progress themselves in employment and the likes."
But he says it is not a case of advising them not to settle in cities.
"It is obviously up to a lot more higher, higher powers than ourselves, but what we are trying to do is just not expose them to some of the [unsavoury sides of life]," he said.
"Newly arrived [people] have got a tough enough situation settling anyway and then add crime, drugs, alcohol and some of the nastier sides of life into the mix and it can really cloud positive life choices."
Mr Herrech says it is not easy to encourage teenage refugees to pick up and move to a rural setting.
"That's really difficult for them to take on board because of course, you are talking about an area where 30 of their friends have settled and there is a real family kind of environment there," he said.
"It's really hard for them to say, 'yes I'll agree with you. I'll go somewhere where there is no-one who is of my cultural background or who speaks my native tongue'.
"[But] when we show them what opportunities are available, that can also balance it out as well."
Band-aid fix
Aden Ibrahim is with the Somali Cultural Association. He believes the idea would work for young families, but not for young men.
"It will be a daunting task. It will be very almost impossible because you are dealing with a young guy who already get hooked into a big city like Melbourne and been taken out to a small town like Mildura," he said.
"They get bored. They get very quickly bored. They don't have movie cities, that sort of thing, and it is only a matter of time, a matter of weeks before they come back to Melbourne or Sydney.
"I don't think it will work in the sense that unless they encourage the church, the other NGOs (non-government organisations) those things get involved and been given some sort of social worker, in my view it is just like taking them out.
"It is just moving the problem from one area to another."
He says every area has its own set of issues.
"The issue of the big city is this but I think that by moving them, 2,000 young kids to a city, to Mildura. Small towns have their merits but it has to be families, families that can help each other," he said.
"Small towns also have their problems. There is also serial type stories that I've been told. All these young men, that go to that small town.
"You've got to thrash it out. You've got to [tell them] that and these things are there."ABC News
