Mr Purcell, now the Vote 1 Local Jobs Member for Western Victoria, said councils should be supporting employment opportunities for local youth before encouraging refugee visa schemes.

But the council has backed the Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) program that will allow refugees to work in the shire.

Cr Jill Parker said the refugees would be “taking up positions that we are lacking”.

She said rural areas faced problems of declining populations and skill levels.

“If these people (refugees) take up positions that we are lacking, that is not competition for employment,” she said.

However, Mr Purcell said “giving precious jobs away to an itinerant workforce was not the best way to provide opportunities for young people in our region.

“Western Victoria has the lowest year 12 attainment rates of all Victoria’s regions and the highest youth unemployment rates in the state at 20 per cent,” he said.

“There’s something wrong if we can’t match local jobs with our local unemployed.”

During a passionate debate about the SHEV program at the council’s meeting this week, Cr Jim Doukas also expressed concern the refugees could take jobs away from Australian residents.

In response, Cr Parker said Australia had accepted immigrants for more than 200 years and each wave of immigration had provoked fears that Australia would be “taken over.”

“Each case has been unfounded and the immigrants have been part of the fabric of multi-cultural Australia,” she said.

Moyne mayor Colin Ryan said the SHEV program gave refugees the opportunity to become valuable community members.

The council’s vote to support the SHEV program followed a request from the Municipal Association of Victoria, which asked whether the council was willing to take part in the scheme.

MAV was acting for the Victorian government which was gathering input to decide whether it would take part in SHEV, a federal government program.