Benefits of an Open Door: Myanmar refugees boost economy in Australian town

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Staying in Australia and a rural town there has created a model for integrating refugees into the community. Some people who fled Myanmar have ended up delivering an economic boost for the town -- and given those displaced by violence a place they can call home. Greg Navarro has the story.

The trip to the rural Victorian town of Nhill can be a long one, hours away from Australia's closest major cities. For Kawdoh Htoo, the journey to get here was even longer.

KAWDOH HTOO KAREN REFUGEE "They burned down the village and also the other people they could not live in their old place."

As a member of the Karen ethnic group in Myanmar, Htoo and many others were forced to flee their homes. He lived in a Thailand refugee camp for almost a decade before making the trip to Australia.

KAWDOH HTOO KAREN REFUGEE "I didn't know how I could live here because I didn't know anybody, also the local people didn't know me."

While the Karen refugee pondered his future, John Millington had an idea that he admits a lot of people thought was crazy.

JOHN MILLINGTON NHILL RESIDENT "Yup, absolutely, certainly our board and the owners of the company thought what on earth are you doing now Millington, you are an idiot."

The former general manager of a local duck processing plant heard about Karen refugees in Australia and thought that convincing them to come to Nhill was an answer to one of the town's problems.

JOHN MILLINGTON NHILL RESIDENT "Finding unskilled people was just as difficult skilled people so that was really the thing - well, maybe the Karen could be part of that solution."

ANNETTE CREEK EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NHILL LEARNING CENTRE "I thought, goodness, I don't know how this would work and I had no experience in dealing with a refugee community."

The Nhill Learning Centre began linking the refugees to services, and English classes. Local business began filling jobs.

One of the shops began selling goods made by the Karen community.

JOHN MILLINGTON NHILL RESIDENT "Probably what has been the greatest revelation for me is the goodness of people to get behind and help those who can't help themselves."

Almost 10 years later, Karen refugees make up about 10% of the town's population and can be found just about everywhere, from shop owners to nurses at the local hospital.

RITCHIE DODDS, CEO WEST WIMMERA HEALTH SERVICE "There is definitely a shortage of nurses across Australia and also it is a great thing to have nurses for the Karen people locally so when Karen patients come in, they have got that familiarity."

One study found that the refugees contributed more than $41 million AUD dollars to the regional economy in the first 5 years they'd been in Nhill.

GREG NAVARRO NHILL "Members of the Karen community now own 25 homes across Nhill, further evidence of just how deep their roots here have grown."

"If the employee has got a wife or a partner, they've got a mortgage, and they've got kids - the triple catastrophe, you are not going anywhere."

ANNETTE CREEK EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NHILL LEARNING CENTRE "As some of my Karen friends have said to me this is our village and I always love that because that encapsulates that they see this as their home."

A village that has proved to be an unexpected and welcomed end to an unbelievably long journey. Greg Navarro, CGTN, Nhill.