I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, and today my respects to Elders past and present. I also extend my respects to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with here us today.
I am proud to be a part of a government committed to recognising all of our diversity.
A Government that will give every Australian the opportunity to vote Yes for Recognition, Listening and Better Results on the 14th of October.
In Hobart yesterday I was privileged to spend the evening with Amar Singh, our local hero of the year, to talk to multicultural communities about the Voice.
The support for the Voice that I heard there echoed what multicultural communities right across the country have been saying.
As an Indian community leader said to me earlier this week:
“This is the time. As we move forward, this is a positive for our community.
“We know that when we listen to people, we get better results.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Reflections on the past year
I’d like to tell you the story of Htoo* and his family who I met in Thailand earlier this year.
I do so, because it paints a picture of the approach to the humanitarian program that this Government is building.
I met Htoo in Mae La – a temporary shelter in north-western Thailand which hosts over 34,000 refugees.
Although his family is originally from Kayin State in Myanmar, he’s spent his whole life in Mae La.
I met them in the middle of a week-long course run by IOM as part of the 1000th Australian Cultural Orientation Program class.
This course aims to provide those on their resettlement journey to Australia with information to help them start their new life here.
To tell them a little bit about what to expect in terms of housing, healthcare, work and school.
About how, already, they fit in to our proudly multicultural story.
They learned that they would arrive in a country where most of us have a parent born overseas or were born overseas ourselves- just like them.
Where they were free to practice their religion and meet others in their community who practiced their faith too.
This, for Htoo and his family, was a big deal.
He shared with me that he was keen to improve his English, and get stuck into school, to learn how to swim and see the beach for the first time.
Earlier this week, I met with Htoo and his family again- this time, in Australia.
They’ve only been here for a few months, but already they’re putting into practice a lot of what they learned at Mae La.
Their mum is able to participate in conversational English and computer literacy lessons to work towards employment.
Htoo and his siblings are able to go to homework club and youth group, to meet other kids their age.
There’s also community language school where they are now, so the younger children, and generations to come, can remain connected to their traditional culture and language, while they rebuild their lives in Australia.
This Government understands that our humanitarian obligations extend beyond getting people to safety.
We know that we must ensure that refugees can meet their full potential here, whether that be at home, in their local communities, at school or in the workplace.
To deliver a humanitarian program that demonstrates a government that knows that we can be tough on borders, without being weak on humanity.
This responsibility extends beyond their arrival, by providing robust support to refugees to ensure they are well equipped to settle into Australia and rebuild their lives with certainty.
For the first time since 2018-19, the Government delivered the Humanitarian Program for 2022-23 in full.
That’s almost 18,000 individuals who have been given the opportunity to rebuild their lives in Australia, and to contribute to our Australian society.
2022-23 also saw the highest number of Community Support Program visa grants since the program’s inception in 2018- more than 1,200.
In a world in which there are more people forcibly displaced than probably at any time in history, it falls on those of us with the capacity to act to reflect on how we can be better.
Last month I announced that the number of people to be resettled in Australia’s Humanitarian Program will increase to 20,000 per year.
This is the largest planned Program since Labor was last in Government a decade ago, and a big step towards our aspirations of 27,000.
This commitment will help ensure Australia plays its part in responding to the global humanitarian crisis and displacement of vulnerable people and can engage with our resettlement partners to bridge the growing gap between protection needs and available places globally.
We have a duty to ensure that our humanitarian efforts focus on those most in need.
That’s why we have committed to a non-discriminatory intake going forward.
This Government understands that a resettlement program, and initiatives like community sponsorship, are integral to ensuring refugees can rebuild their lives and fully participate in their new communities.
Alongside this, we recognise the critical importance of complementary pathways, and we strive to play a leadership role in seeking to match the compassion and generosity in community to create life-changing outcomes.
I was proud that Labor’s National Conference last month doubled our commitment to 10,000 places over time, this being additional to the Program.
I look forward to working to realise this goal, as we consider the outcomes of the CRISP pilot and final report in 2025.
Importance of refugee voices
Refugees on forms of temporary protection visa endured a decade of uncertainty.
That’s why in February we introduced the pathway for Temporary Protection visa and Safe Haven Enterprise visa holders to apply for a Resolution of Status visa.
The contributions of those who had endured the TPV and SHEV system was crucial to informing our policy and mechanism to convert those on temporary visas to permanency.
It provided us with the insight not just into what needed to happen to enable people’s visa conversions, but the consequential issues we could manage before they arose.
Last December, we replaced the former Government’s partner visa processing hierarchy, Ministerial Direction 80, which kept partners of UMA permanent visa holders perpetually at the bottom of the processing pile.
This meant that new RoS visa holders have had the same access to family reunion through our Migration Program as any other permanent visa holder from day 1.
Now, more than 7,000 RoS visas have been granted.
These families now live with certainty and security as they rebuild their lives in Australia.
Multicultural Framework Review
Government should work to bring communities together- not divide them.
We must engage in a genuine dialogue with rather than consultation as an afterthought.
50 years since the first multicultural policy was implemented by the Whitlam Government, we’re doing just that.
The Albanese Government’s Multicultural Framework Review will allow us to take stock of how government bodies support - and may fail to support - multicultural communities across Australia.
We’re currently in the process of evaluating the effectiveness of existing policies and programs in promoting social inclusion, and respect for diversity, will identify areas for improvement.
I’m focused on drawing on the talents of those who know these issues first-hand.
That’s why we’ve appointed a panel of three eminent Australians to travel the country and speak to as many Australians as they can before providing a report and recommendations to me early next year.
I’m pleased to have joined community consultations – from Melbourne all the way up to Darwin - to hear directly from communities.
For the first time ever, the Department of Home Affairs will be able to receive submissions in all languages, including in writing, via audio or video recording on the Review website.
The Government has prioritised accessibility to a variety of languages – information on the Review is now available in 35 languages.
We want to hear from a range of voices sharing their lived experiences, their views on what is working well and what could be improved to advance our multicultural nation.
Australian Refugee Advisory Panel
The importance of lived experience in shaping national and international dialogue and policy cannot be overemphasised.
That’s why I’ve ensured that the majority of members of my Settlement Advisory Council have lived refugee experience, to provide advice on all aspects of Australia’s settlement programs.
And it’s why we’ve established the Australian Refugee Advisory Panel- providing a formal mechanism for meaningful refugee participation in Australia’s international engagement.
We have spent the past decade in retreat from international engagement.
I was proud to attend the first ministerial meeting of the Resettlement Diplomacy Network earlier this week.
The Network aims to diplomatic engagement among resettlement States, to strengthen and expand global refugee resettlement and additional third-country pathways to protection- all gorals our government is deeply committed to promoting.
But in advance of the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva later this year, we don’t just want Australia to re-engage with international refugee fora.
We must do so with the meaningful participation of those with refugee experiences at the core of our leadership in this space.
Refugees have often been at the forefront of some of the most important developments in Australia’s growth as a nation.
The Global Refugee Forum is a critical opportunity for Australia to share practices, technical expertise, and policy insights to bring positive changes in the lives of refugees globally.
This sits alongside our role as the 2024 Co-Chair of the UNHCR Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways- the central multilateral forum for the UNHCR, member States, the private sector, academia, NGOs and refugees to advance global humanitarian resettlement.
It is time that Government walk the walk on meaningful participation for refugees- not just talk the talk.
Conclusion
Our approach to humanitarian resettlement is about so much more than how many refugees we resettle every year.
This Government is determined to change the tone of our debate around refugees to one that is anchored in compassion.
To ensure refugees, like Htoo, not only feel safe, but feel welcome in the country they now call home.
[ENDS]
*Name changed for privacy reasons
