​I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the traditional custodians of the land we are on.

I recognise and celebrate the diversity of First Nations peoples and their ongoing cultures and connections to the lands and waters of Australia.

I pay my respects to Ngunnawal Elders past and present, and extend those respects to any First Nations people here today.

It’s an honour to be here with you all to celebrate the second anniversary of the initial arrivals of refugee households under the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP).

I’d like to thank Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia and its CEO Lisa Button for the invitation to speak today, and for all the work CRSA has done to administer the CRISP program and to help the new Australians who have arrived here under CRISP.

Following sign off by the former Coalition government, the Pilot started in July 2022, and the first refugees settled through CRISP arrived two years ago, in August 2022.

Refugees eligible for CRISP are referred to Australia by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, have been granted a Refugee category visa, are offshore and have no family links in Australia.

So it’s quite a journey for them, both in terms of distance and the complex challenges of settling in a new country — which is why CRISP is such an incredibly valuable initiative.

Refugees arriving through CRISP have access to the same government services as other refugees, such as income support, Medicare, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, employment support, the Adult Migrant English Program and the Settlement Engagement and Transition Support program.

However, CRISP participants are helped to settle during their first 12 months by trained and vetted volunteers, instead of Government-funded service providers.

Personally, and on behalf of the Australian Government, I’d like to thank all the volunteers who have taken part or are still taking part in CRISP.

Our government is committed to ensuring refugees successfully settle and integrate into the Australian community and make the most of their new lives and possibilities.

But they can’t achieve their full potential without the support of their local communities.

I’m sure all of you here today appreciate CRSA’s role in promoting the Pilot and engaging with communities across Australia to mobilise and train volunteers to support refugees.

These are people who have been displaced from their homelands for a variety of reasons.

Their lives have effectively been on hold until they can find some permanent certainty in a welcoming host country.

CRISP goes a long way in providing a warm welcome to Australia.

The difference between CRISP and other programs is the formal role community members play — people of goodwill who want to help refugees settle into life in Australia through improved social connections.

Community Supporter Groups or CSGs provide a range of support, such as finding housing, accessing income support and Medicare, enrolling in school, navigating health and other mainstream services, searching for employment, and linking with local community groups and programs.

Of course, it’s important to find out how these initiatives are benefitting the people involved, and to find out about challenges or issues that may arise.

A program like CRISP has to be genuinely informed by lived experience.

 The University of Queensland (UQ) has been engaged to evaluate the effectiveness of CRISP in achieving strong settlement outcomes for participants.

Findings presented by UQ are largely positive for both CRISP participants and volunteers engaged in the Pilot.

The University will continue its research until June 2025 when it will present the final outcomes of the evaluation to the Department.

The Pilot itself has also been extended through to June 2026, along with additional funding, while outcomes of the evaluation are considered.

We’re also looking internationally for ways to improve outcomes for refugees.

Australia made 25 pledges at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum, which reaffirmed our support for refugees and host countries, enhancing refugee self-reliance and expanding access to third-country solutions through resettlement and complementary pathways including refugee labour mobility and community sponsorship pathways.

Our ongoing collaboration with key partners from civil society, community members and refugee-led organisations are crucial in informing how we progress these commitments over the coming years.

Australia, as Chair of the 2024 Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways, or CRCP, reinforced our commitment to further strengthen global partnerships to find durable, innovative solutions to refugee crises, in line with UNHCR’s Third Country Solutions for Refugees: Roadmap 2030.

This includes supporting other countries to establish and grow their refugee resettlement programs, championing the expansion of third-country solutions through complementary pathways; and integrating refugee voices meaningfully into our efforts to ensure what we do is truly informed by lived experience.

While significant global efforts are underway to create better outcomes for refugees, we all know it is an ongoing task.

As we face record levels of forced displacement amid global instability, Australia remains committed to working with the refugee sector and international partners to drive global efforts on resettlement and complementary pathways.

CRISP is one great way to do this — and we have a lot to celebrate here today for its second anniversary.

But there’s still a lot of work to be done and improvements that can be made, and better solutions that can be found.

Of course, we should celebrate the Pilot’s second anniversary, and what has been achieved so far.

I’d like to mention one family who are here with us today through CRISP – Mr Mazin Al Khusi, his wife Mrs Rouba Murhej Farrouh and their two boys Elyas and George.

It’s great to have you here today.

The family are originally from Syria. They arrived in Australia in August 2022 after a long and difficult journey via Iraq. When they arrived in Australia, they were helped to settle in Goulburn in New South Wales by Maggie Patterson, from the Urban Monk Community Supporter Group, who is also here today. Thank you Maggie.

Mazin’s first new job in Australia was on a chicken farm, while Rouba started work at a Vietnamese restaurant. Since then Mazin has also driven rideshare cars for a living and Rouba has started her own business that offers aged care and cleaning services.

Their dream is to run a very successful Australian business, and they are working on it with the support of a local benefactor, who has offered housing, investment and Australian business mentoring, building on what Mazin and his wife already knew from their successful businesses in Syria.

Elyas and George are thriving academically, and as very good chess players in their spare time.

And here’s something that CRSA told me about that really made me smile. Three babies have been born to CRISP families in Australia that the parents named name after their Community Supporter Group coordinator.

We have baby Helen in Albury-Wodonga, baby Lynette on the Sunshine Coast and baby Sandy in Hobart.

The Government and I look forward to hearing about — and helping to bring about — even more success stories from CRISP.

Thank you.