Refugees Report Feeling Welcome in Australia’s Settlement Cities: Report

Shoppers gather to buy fruit and vegetables at a store in the suburb of Fairfield in Sydney, Australia, on July 9, 2021. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Major Australian cities where newly arrived refugees settle have been reported to have welcoming communities.

A report by the Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) and migrant settlement services agency AMES Australia found that refugees felt welcomed upon settling down in Australia’s settlement cities.

The term “Settlement City” refers to the Local Government Areas (LGAs) that settle a large share of refugees during their first years of life in Australia.

The LGAs examined in the report include Liverpool and Fairfield in Sydney, New South Wales, as well as Dandenong, Casey, and Hume in Melbourne, Victoria.

There is no formal model of a settlement city. However, it shares many qualities with cities that facilitate refugee resettlement, the report said.

The report (pdf) highlighted how the settlement cities were attractive to many refugees as they already had established communities with familiar ethnic and linguistic characteristics, which helped refugees settle relatively quickly into their new communities.

“These communities complement formal settlement services in assisting with settlement support and orientation in the early days after arrival, offer a sense of familiarity, early opportunities for belonging and inclusion, and sustain ethnic businesses that provide familiar goods and services,” the report said.

From the report, most refugees surveyed gave positive comments about their new communities and an ease of fitting in.

Challenges If Refugee Intake Increased

However, some raised concerns about challenges experienced when there is an increased intake of refugees. A large influx of new residents can put pressure on the need for funding on infrastructure, public services, affordable housing, safety, and security.

AMES Australia CEO Cath Scarth said the success of settlement cities reinforced the need to introduce these to other areas around the nation.

“Securing employment and housing, like any other Australians, are priorities for newly arrived refugees. And we can see from the research that having welcoming cities and communities can help deliver these aspirations,” Scarth said, reported AAP.

“The vibrant multicultural communities that welcome refugees provide a familiarity and sense of belonging that help refugees develop a stake in the communities where they live.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) was critical of the Albanese government’s 2022-2023 federal budget, which did not announce any additional social support funding for asylum seekers, maintaining the same level of funding as allocated by the Morrison government—$36.9 million for the 2022-23 financial year.

Kenny Duke, the senior manager for Access, Engagement, and Community Development in Brisbane’s Logan city, said, “As we have seen from the past year with the sudden arrival of large numbers of refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine, the demographic of individuals in need of support can change quickly.”

Although settlement cities are helping refugees settle in Australia, the report has called on the federal government to maintain and expand humanitarian visa policies that support the creation of more settlement cities.

“Even when mainstream services are accessible, moreover, refugees’ lack of familiarity with them can reduce confidence to seek help and limit engagement.”

New Home for Refugee Support Centre Opens in Melbourne’s South-East

Support for refugees and local people seeking asylum has opened a new support centre in Dandenong in Melbourne’s south-east.

The Refugee Resource Hub, powered by the ASRC, says it offers a place of welcome, community, and support to help people with their daily and long-term needs to rebuild their life in Australia.

Both ASRC and the Refugee Resource Hub provide material aid, healthcare, legal aid, a foodbank, counselling, education, and employment services. Pathways to employment is one of the hub’s key services with partnerships who can support small and large enterprises across industries including warehousing, logistics, construction and hospitality to place refugees and people seeking asylum with stable employment.

ASRC was started by CEO Kon Karapanagiotidis OAM 21 years ago as a TAFE project about food security, and has grown in response to peoples’ needs.

New Refugee Sponsorship Program

The former Morrison government also approved a new refugee sponsorship program, which allows small groups of Australians to sponsor the resettlement of refugees in their community. The sponsorship enables Australians to share their knowledge and networks to support refugees in a new society and create a more smooth transition into the new community with refugees.

With Australia’s crippling labour shortage, resettled skilled refugees can help ease skills shortfall experienced around the country.

As part of a global movement, the Australian federal government partnered with Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) to introduce the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) program. The Australian Government has allocated $8.6 million to establish and support CRISP.

CRSA is an independent Australian charity that leads the establishment of programs that enable community sponsorship of refugees in Australia.

This pilot program was inspired by the community refugee sponsorship that has been working successfully in Canada since the 1970s, where ordinary community members have sponsored and welcomed more than 325,000 refugees; which is in addition to government-funded resettlement programs.

Similar programs have been launched around the world including the UK, United States, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, and Spain.

Sara Gloede of Brunswick Heads, NSW, organised with a group of friends to become a local support group, and help refugee families to find housing, schooling and employment.

“We thought if we could bring in a family who had hospitality skills, firstly it would be easy for them to get employment but it also helps with shortages in the region,” Gloede told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Studies (pdf) show that 70 percent of sponsored refugees from a settlement program find employment within their first full year.

Since its Australian launch in mid 2022, CRISP will support 1,500 refugees over four years led by community support groups.