Not in our region: residents
THE region appears to have shunned the idea of settling Syrian refugees in the Dawson electorate.
A Facebook poll conducted by Federal Member for Dawson George Christensen found 86% of responders were against the idea.
Mr Christensen said the figure was "about 75%" when voters outside the electorate were filtered out, but noted it was still "quite a high number".
Our federal member said he felt a sluggish economy was largely to blame.
"When you have downturns in the economy ... you can understand why you would have people reluctant to accept a lot more people into a community where there's a limited supply of jobs going around," he said.
Mr Christensen said he was not necessarily opposed to the idea of refugees, but considerations must be made.
"If there's overwhelming support in a particular section of the electorate to bring in refugees, we can look at that," he said.
"But there would need to not just be accommodation and not just be support services, but a plan outlined to see how these people are going to become a meaningful part of the community."
At present, it appears this won't be happening in the Whitsundays, with public opinion on local community Facebook pages leaning heavily toward the negative.
