 The Australian Cultural Orientation Program was implemented in 2003 and has assisted more than 23,000 humanitarian entrants in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It has introduced aspects of Australian life prior to their arrival in Australia. Its aim is to provide better settlement outcomes for humanitarian entrants going to Australia by providing them with a realistic expectation of what Australian culture and society is about and what life in Australia is about. A common fear held by refugee and humanitarian entrants in war-torn countries is of police rule. Senior Sergeant Ian Gillespie and Senior Constable Joey Herich from the Victoria Police travelled to the Sudan in April 2007 to try and allay such fears. The police over there are a completely different service provider if I could use that word. We've got two coppers on board with AK-47s at the moment. They're negotiating a fee, I think, to let us go. Corruption is quite normal. Violence is a very accepted method of disciplining people. A very heavy-handed mentality. So, you know, we have to break that image of police and re-establish it as something new, a free service. The Sudan trip proved to be a life-changing experience for the two policemen. And you go over there and you can't help but just be awe-inspired at, you know, the plight of a refugee actually making it to another country and surviving what's happened. It was difficult at times. There's none of the nicer days of home. It's a place that's been at civil war for 50 years, give or take a couple of years. And as a result of that, all the money's gone into the civil war. There's no money gone into their own infrastructure. To see a person, an individual, get themselves firstly out of a war-torn area, to a refugee camp, have all the assessments done to be qualified as a refugee and then get out of that country into another country and then almost go through like a rebirth. It's just an amazing thing for them. The non-confrontational approach allowed the refugees to realise that Australian police are not a threat. And by engaging law enforcement in Australia, we can explain to them that, in fact, they are a very important part of Australian society, that they do provide a valuable role for assisting them when they get to Australia. And in fact, they're not somebody that they should be afraid of.