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The Minister for Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Melissa Horne, yesterday announced Settlement Services International (SSI) would deliver a new state-wide gambling harm prevention and counselling service for migrant and refugee communities. 

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Settlement Services International is dismayed that Australia’s 2020-21 Budget has delivered stimulus and incentives to businesses and those on high incomes by sacrificing those most vulnerable — in Australia and overseas – to a future of destitution.

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Settlement Services International welcomes the Federal Government’s announcement today that it will expand access to the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP).

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Two organisations deeply involved in migration to Australia have today signed an MOU to develop programs and initiatives to support new migrants.

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Mr Savvides’ appointment, taking over the role made vacant by Bulent Hass Dellal in June, was announced by the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, Paul Fletcher MP, on July 9.

Including 30 years’ experience in the Australian and New Zealand health care sector, Mr Savvides has extensive management and board experience working in government-owned enterprises and not-for-profit organisations.

SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis welcomed the news, saying SBS had an important role in Australian society, supporting economic and civil participation, and striving to inspire all Australians to experience the benefits of social inclusion.

“From working with George on SBS’s Community Advisory Committee, I know how passionate he is about the organisation and its purpose,” she said.

“Since being appointed as Deputy Chair in 2017, and most recently as Acting Chair, he has played a key role in ensuring SBS is a contemporary media organisation, serving and celebrating our diverse multicultural society.

“I’m sure that under his leadership, SBS will continue its creative and imaginative contribution to Australia’s social, cultural and linguistic identity.

“I look forward to continuing to work with George as he and the Board guide SBS, meeting the needs of multicultural communities and our First Nations people, and helping all Australians explore and celebrate our diversity.”

Foundations for Belonging: A snapshot of newly arrived refugees, to be launched during Refugee Week on June 18, reveals that refugees are building mixed social networks, which helps them to trust Australian institutions and fulfil social responsibilities.

 

The research examines social and civic dimensions such as social bonds, social bridges, social links and rights and responsibilities from the perspectives of refugees themselves and their everyday experiences of welcome, participation and belonging in the early stages of settlement.

It points to a series of actions that governments, policymakers, service providers and civil society can pursue to strengthen their contribution to settlement and integration.

SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said, “It is fitting that, in a Refugee Week with the theme ‘Celebrating the Year of Welcome’, this study shows that refugees have a strong sense of welcome and belonging in their everyday lives.

“They feel part of the Australian community, regularly seek to get to know people from cultural backgrounds other than their own, demonstrate high levels of trust in their neighbours and neighbourhoods, and, despite language barriers, are developing social bridges grounded in the sense of welcome and support offered by the broader Australian community.

“This research will provide a solid foundation for community engagement initiatives that facilitate meeting and exchange between receiving communities and refugees.”

Western Sydney University Associate Professor Shanthi Robertson said, “Our new research shows that everyday, commonplace encounters with service providers, neighbours, friends and other members of the community can play a critical role in the belonging and integration of newly arrived refugees.

“These small daily encounters shape the trust and responsibility that refugees feel towards Australian society more broadly. Many Australians support the refugee program. Now individuals, government agencies and services providers can discover what simple actions they can take to support newly arrived refugees in their community.”

Meet Abdallah Al Tibi

When Abdallah Al Tibi and his family had packed their belongings in 2012 to seek temporary refuge from Syria in bordering Jordan, they did not anticipate that they’d never return, and packed for only two weeks.

The Al Tibi family were among the earliest groups of Syrians to flee the war as the city of Daraa had been one of the first areas of Syria to be under attack.

“It was like a horror movie; during that time, we were often unable to leave school if the area was under attack; it was very stressful,” Mr Al Tibi said.
Mr Al Tibi spent three years in limbo in Jordan before his family had been granted their humanitarian visas to Australia in 2014.

When the Al Tibi family were given the news that they were being resettled in Australia, Mr Al Tibi said they were overwhelmed with a sense of relief.

“We knew it was a life-changing opportunity, and as we are a family of high achievers, we put double the effort to learn English when we arrived.”

Arriving in Sydney airport in December of 2014, the Al Tibi family were greeted by Settlement Services International (SSI), who provided with them with wrap-around case management services, including finding temporary accommodation.

Today, members of the Al Tibi family have demonstrated their desire to succeed in their new home with most of the siblings either completing degrees or with degrees in hand.

Mr Al Tibi is completing his Bachelor of Social Work at Western Sydney University (WSU) while working at MYAN in community outreach and SSI as a part-time bi-lingual guide.

He has also been able to expand on his data analysis skills with the opportunity to become a peer researcher in a person-centred project led by the NSW Coordinator General for Refugee Resettlement, Peter Shergold.

Mr Al Tibi said, “Having permanent residency has provided us with equal opportunities that would otherwise have not been accessible.

“As refugees, we have a strong drive and commitment to contribute to the community we live within, driven by an appreciation for the second chance we have been given at life.

“I think refugees are welcoming of others’ cultures and experiences because we value the adversity in everyone’s journey as we reflect on the difficulty of our own.”

Launch

Foundations for Belonging will be launched at a virtual event hosted on Zoom by Australia at Home on June 18, 1-2pm [link https://australiaathome.com.au/upcoming-conversations/ssi], during Refugee Week (Sunday June 14 to Saturday June 20).

Refugee Week aims to create better understanding between different communities and to encourage successful integration enabling refugees to live in safety and to continue making a valuable contribution to Australia.

The launch will feature a panel discussion moderated by ABC News reporter Lydia Feng, with research co-author and Western Sydney University Senior Research Fellow Shanthi Robertson, SSI Settlement Services Manager Dor Achiek and Refugee Council of Australia Policy Officer Shufuka Tahiri.

The discussion will be preceded by a presentation of the research findings by the paper’s co-authors Tadgh McMahon, SSI Research and Policy Manager, and Shanthi Robertson. The launch event will also include a Q&A.

Media enquiries

For more information or to obtain the research report Foundations for Belonging, contact Stephen Webb, swebb@ssi.org.au or 0488 684 163.

Professor Jo Spangaro from UOW’s School of Health and Society is the lead researcher in the project, “Screening and responding to domestic violence experienced by refugee women”, which was awarded $442,364 funding through the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects scheme.

The ARC Linkage Project grants, announced by Federal Education Minister Mr Dan Tehan, are designed to bring university researchers together with industry partners to undertake research collaborations that will deliver benefits to the Australian community.

Refugee and other vulnerable migrant women are at elevated risk of not having domestic and family violence detected or disclosed, leading to significant stress, dangers and serious health effects.

Dr Astrid Perry, SSI’s Manager of Strategic Policy and one of the research investigators on the project, said, “This study will implement a model for identifying and responding to domestic violence with newly arrived refugee women.

“The proposed intervention will adapt and test family and domestic violence screening, risk assessment and safety planning tools along with individual support and case coordination.”

She said the project, over three years, would integrate research evidence on best practice domestic violence responses into service delivery with refugee women, producing results that would be transferable to other vulnerable migrant women who access settlement programs and other health and welfare services across Australia.

“This project has strong potential to support effective early intervention and prevention as well as to reduce death and serious long-term effects from domestic violence among vulnerable and hard-to-reach women and their children,” she said.

Professor Spangaro said, “Domestic violence is the leading contributor to premature death among Australian women, and costs Australia $22 billion each year, with refugee women at heightened risk.”

She said the project’s adaptation and testing of evidence-based intervention should reduce the human and financial cost of domestic violence among refugee and other vulnerable migrant women, providing tools to settlement services to address the complex, hidden problem.

Greg Benson, SSI’s General Manager Client Services and Operations, said, “Partnerships such as this are a useful way for researchers and people on the frontline to test new ways of working and learn from each other so that newly arrived women and children can build a new chapter of their lives in Australia in safety.

“SSI is committed to collaborating with researchers to build the evidence base for the work that we do.”

Other participants in the project include University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, Auckland University of Technology, Settlement Council of Australia, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Australian Institute of Health And Welfare, South Western Sydney Local Health District, the NSW Ministry of Health, Family Planning NSW, and Domestic Violence NSW.

Sami* is a middle-aged, tax-paying construction worker who lost his job six weeks ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike many others in his situation, Sami has been left without access to a welfare safety net, forced to rely on support from not-for-profit organisations like Settlement Services International (SSI).

In a pulse survey of temporary residents in NSW carried out by SSI, more that 80% of people on temporary visas had lost their job or had their hours reduced in the past eight weeks. This is far higher than the rate of job losses in the wider NSW economy.

People seeking asylum in Australia who are on bridging or temporary visas have been omitted from the federal government’s COVID-19 emergency stimulus payments for people who have lost their jobs.

State governments around the country have stepped into this gap, but in NSW — without access to emergency relief measures or the recently introduced JobKeeper and JobSeeker initiatives — some of NSW’s most vulnerable residents are falling into poverty, unable to pay their rent or bills and put food on the table.

Last week, SSI launched a public donation campaign to keep food on the table for people like Sami.

“I don’t have money to pay for rent, electricity, for the car, everything. I have no money now. All my savings are gone. I went to my boss [to ask for help] and just nothing. I just have no work now. I don’t know how long this will go for,” Sami said.

Sami’s wife is an Australian citizen and has received federal government assistance. Sami said that, although any form of support was good, the increased emergency payment was not enough to pay bills and buy basic food items for their family.

Like hundreds of other NSW residents on a temporary visa, until Sami receives much needed government support, finding money to pay his bills and put food on the table will be a constant struggle.

In the survey of nearly 500 people on temporary visas carried out by SSI over the past eight weeks, 62% indicated they have gone without meals, 76% could not pay the rent or a mortgage on time, and 52% could not buy the medicines they required.

Greg Benson, SSI’s General Manager of Client Services and Operations, said the economic downturn as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic was having a devastating effect on an already vulnerable group, many of whom lived week to week and had no safety net to fall back on.

Mums and dads are coming to us unable to feed and clothe their children over winter. We’re talking about hard-working, contributing members of our society who, up until this pandemic, have made economic and social contributions to NSW,” he said.

Almost two-thirds of the survey respondents had been resident in NSW for two years or more.

“We urge the NSW government to act now to avoid more families falling into a cycle of poverty,” Mr Benson said.

“Regardless of their visa status, newcomers deserve to enjoy a decent standard of living while they’re on our shores. Temporary migrants deserve, at minimum, a package of support that enables them to access healthcare, feed their families and have a roof over their heads.”

You can support vulnerable people seeking asylum affected by COVID-19 by donating here.

SSI backs the key points in a new report released by ACOSS, which outlines five “job rich” measures to help communities and individuals recover, with a particular focus on at-risk groups and delivering long-term social, economic and environmental benefits.

Of the outlined changes, of particular concern to SSI and its communities is:

The report’s rallying cry to “build back better” echoes leading thinking from SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis, who called for changes to how we measure our society’s success in an opinion piece for Women’s Agenda and an interview on Channel 10’s The Project.
 
“The virus doesn’t discriminate but the government is discriminating by visa type,” she said.

“With more than 90,000 people living on bridging visas having no assistance or financial support, if we don’t help this group we will all suffer – health-wise, financially and socially. And it’s the right thing to do.
 
“What we need is a compromise where the value of our society is not just measured by our economic output. We can look to New Zealand’s ‘wellbeing budget’ or the UN’s sustainable development goals for inspiration.
 
“I firmly believe that we can become a productive society with a strong economic output that still looks after its most vulnerable community members. We can invest in healthcare, education and welfare because, through COVID-19, we’ve learned that our society is only as strong as its most vulnerable members.”
 
SSI supports three key measures in working toward a more equitable and sustainable society post-COVID-19:

  1. Extending JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments to temporary migrants
    • Temporary migrants make a positive social and economic contribution to Australia. Skilled migrants and international students, who make up the majority of temporary migrants, have high levels of workforce participation and pay income tax and other taxes. However, just like all Australians, temporary migrants are vulnerable to unforeseen events or personal circumstances which may affect their ability to earn an income.
  2. Permanently increasing JobSeeker payment and waiving the waiting period for new permanent residents to access income support in times of need
    • The fundamental purpose of Australia’s social security system is to support permanent residents and citizens during times when they are unable to adequately support themselves.
    • SSI supports a permanent increase to the JobSeeker payment to ensure that Australians can be supported in times of need.
    • Since 2019, most new permanent residents (excluding refugees) in Australia have a four-year waiting period to most income support payments irrespective of their circumstances or level of need. These waiting periods have been temporarily waived as part of the Australian Government’s response to COVID-19.
    • SSI recommends that this waiting period be waived or reduced permanently
  3.  Measures to improve housing affordability
    • Safe shelter is a basic human right and the national shortage of affordable housing particularly affects new entrants into the housing market including migrants and refugees.
    • The high cost of housing also adversely impacts new permanent residents (excluding refugees) as they are ineligible for Commonwealth Rental Assistance for four years irrespective of their circumstances or need.
    • This means that Commonwealth Rental Assistance, a critical strategy to address housing affordability among low-income households, is not open to this cohort, despite them paying taxes when employed.

Minister Robert was announcing $400 million in grants to The Partners in the Community (PITC) grants program, which identifies organisations to deliver Local Area Coordination (LAC) Services to NDIS participants on behalf of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The NDIA partners with suitably experienced and qualified organisations, with strong local knowledge and understanding of the needs of people with disability or developmental delay. They deliver LAC services to help people with disability aged 7 and over to access supports in their local communities, and to support participants along their NDIS pathway.

SSI will deliver services to 16,000 participants in the South West Sydney and Sydney areas, covering 14 local government areas, from Fairfield to Bundanoon, and between Rhodes, Punchbowl and Glebe.

During a three year contract, SSI will work with participants to build and pursue their goals, exercise choice and control, and engage with the NDIS.

SSI will also support people with disability, and their families and carers, by working with communities and mainstream services to build awareness and to become more inclusive of the range of needs and aspirations of people with disability.

Minister Robert said, “The PITC grant rounds allow the NDIA to seek out the most suitable organisations to deliver these important services for our participants to ensure they continue to have a positive experience with the Scheme.”

SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis welcomed the announcement.

She said, “SSI as a values-driven organisation, with a strong focus on access and equity, is a perfect fit with the NDIS approach of  supporting people with disability early in life to improve opportunity and outcomes across their lifetime.

“In partnership with the NDIA, we seek to assist people with a disability to improve their lives by increasing support and facilitating opportunities to participate in all aspects of social and economic life. I am confident, with our diversity lens and client-centred approach, we will offer innovative and new approaches with strong support for NDIS participants.”

Current LAC agreements for NSW cease on June 30. 

SSI will commence transition activities immediately with full operations scheduled for October 1.

A handover arrangement for participants will be put in place between SSI and the outgoing partner, St Vincent de Paul, to ensure continuity of support.

Changes to existing partner arrangements will not affect participant plans, funding or level of service provided.

For more information visit www.ndis.gov.au.