The Minister for Home Affairs’ Peter Dutton conducted consultations on the 2018-19 Humanitarian Program on Tuesday 15 May with various agencies and community leaders.
Faith community representatives attended the consultations along with Muslims leaders representing the Syrian, Somali and Rohingya communities to air views and recommendations. A discussion paper Australia’s Humanitarian Program 2018-19 with the following link:
https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/reports-publications/discussion-papers-submissions
As the Government is seeking the views of the Australian public on the management and composition of the Humanitarian Program, by way of inviting written submissions to humanitarian.policy@homeaffairs.gov.au by Friday 25 May 2018.
The Humanitarian Program
The Humanitarian Program comprises the offshore resettlement (for people outside Australia) and onshore protection (for people inside Australia) components. The Program aims to:
- provide permanent resettlement to those most in need, who are in desperate situations overseas, including in refugee camps and protracted refugee situations;
- reunite refugees and people who are in refugee-like situations overseas with their family in Australia;
- be flexible and responsive to changing global resettlement needs and emerging humanitarian situations to ensure Australia’s approach remains comprehensive and high-quality;
- use resettlement strategically to help stabilise refugee populations, reduce the prospect of irregular movement from source countries and countries of first asylum, and support broader international protection;
- meet Australia’s international protection obligations.
Each year the Government sets the number of visas that may be granted under the Program. In recent years, the Australian Government provided an additional 12,000 Humanitarian Program places for people displaced by conflict in Syria and Iraq.
The 2017-18 Program has 16,250 places (including up to 1,000 places for the new Community Support Program). The Program will increase to 18,750 places in 2018-19.
All offshore Humanitarian Program applications are assessed on an individual basis with applicants required to demonstrate their humanitarian need. All people granted a visa are subject to rigorous assessment, including health, character and security checks. People who are considered to represent a danger to an Australian citizen or to an Australian community, would not meet these requirements regardless of race or religion. These checks are conducted before individuals are granted a visa to enter Australia and are not compromised to meet program numbers.
As the Government is seeking the views of the Australian public on the management and composition of the Humanitarian Program, by way of inviting written submissions to humanitarian.policy@homeaffairs.gov.au by Friday 25 May 2018.
This page is offered for information only; the material herein in not specifically endorsed nor approved by Religions for Peace Australia
