The amended bill before the Senate will impose a four-year wait to access Newstart, hurting people most in need. It will also, for the first time, impose a one-year wait to access Family Tax Benefit Part A, which is a crucial payment for low-income families, including families without paid work and families on the minimum wage trying to give their children the best start in life.
Violet Roumeliotis, SSI CEO, said the proposed cuts would hurt already vulnerable communities at a time they needed support the most.
“Investing in new arrivals and offering support to vulnerable communities has been a key determinant of our success as a multicultural nation, contributing to social cohesion. There is no justification for cutting off support for people, including children and families, who are in financial need,” she said.
“In our experience, the great majority of migrant families hit the ground running and are keen to work and contribute but we do need a reasonable safety net for people.”
SSI urges Labor to join the Greens, Centre Alliance and Tim Storer in opposing the bill in the Senate, to protect people from falling further into poverty.
In recent weeks, the Taliban has waged a sustained attack on Hazara villages in Khas Uruzgan, Malistan and Jaghori districts, resulting in the death of many men, women and children and the kidnapping or displacement of thousands, including family members and relatives of thousands of Hazara Australians.
SSI has many members of the Hazara community among its staff, volunteers and clients, and is well aware of the acute anguish news of these events has caused.
SSI believes that the Australian Government, as a major contributor to international efforts for stabilisation and reconstruction of Afghanistan since 2001, can play a vital role in urging the National Unity Government of President Ashraf Ghani and NATO’s Resolute Support Mission to act to ensure the safety and security of the Hazara people.
Without an immediate and coordinated national and international response, Taliban forces are free to commit mass atrocities against the Hazaras, with an escalation of violence and further displacement.
Specifically, we request the Australian Government use its influence to urge the National Unity Government in Afghanistan and NATO’s Resolute Support Mission to take the following measures:
- The National Unity Government must deploy adequate military forces to secure the districts of Khas Uruzgan, Malestan and Jaghori and other vulnerable districts.
- The Resolute Support Mission must escalate its response to the Taliban attacks by providing adequate and immediate air support to the local resistance forces and the Afghan government forces that are currently deployed in these districts.
- The National Unity Government and the international community should provide emergency humanitarian support to civilians who are displaced in these districts.
- The National Unity Government and the Resolute Support Mission must plan for long-term deployment of formal units of the Afghan military forces to protect these districts and the roads that connect them to urban centres against future Taliban attacks.
Furthermore, we ask that the Australian Government:
- Immediately review all decisions to refuse protection visas to Hazara asylum seekers currently in Australia and to halt forced returns to Afghanistan considering the escalating and targeted attacks on Hazara people.
- Invite leaders from the Hazara community in Australia to advise the Australian Government’s engagement in Afghanistan.
SSI calls on the Australian Government to show leadership in responding to this escalating humanitarian crisis and offers its condolences to families in Australia who have been deeply affected by these devastating attacks.
The panel will consider “the current rate of population growth and infrastructure pipeline” and “how long is needed for infrastructure to catch up with population growth rates”.
In her NSW Premier’s announcement of population review, the Premier renewed her call for net overseas migration levels to return to more sustainable Howard-era rates until a proper population policy is put in place.
She said, “It is becoming increasingly clear that the current high rates of population growth are putting even more pressure on our infrastructure.”
A “Howard era” benchmark — when NSW’s net migration averaged at 45,000 people per year under the Howard government — would require halving the current levels, which have averaged above 100,000 for the past two years.
SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said, “Discussions about levels of immigration are essential in an inclusive and democratic country like Australia, however we do not want to compromise our successful multicultural cohesion by focusing only on impacts to planning and infrastructure.”
Ms Roumeliotis said while Ms Berejiklian believed, “NSW’s economic success is attracting a far greater share of total immigrant numbers than it has in the past” she also needed to acknowledge that much of that economic success could be attributed to the migrant population.
She said, “Migration has clear economic and social benefits for Australia. Australia’s migration levels prevented our economy going into a technical recession after the World Financial Crisis.
“The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report Migrant Intake into Australia (2016) found that with net migration at the historic average rate, GDP per person is projected to increase by some 7% relative to zero net overseas migration by 2060.”
Ms Roumeliotis said there were planning pressures in any big city but “we must remember that migrants come to Australia with high levels of social and economic capital and a strong willingness to contribute and, further, have shaped modern Australia since World War II.”
She said SSI supported the Productivity Commission’s recommendation that, in determining migrant intake, the Australian government should give greater consideration to the implications for planning and investment and that State and Territory governments should develop detailed infrastructure plans that are consistent with population growth.
She said SSI also agreed with the Productivity Commission’s recommendations that the Australian government:
- develop and articulate a population policy, and calibrate the size of the annual migrant intake according to that population policy; and
- in determining the migration intake, give greater consideration to planning and investment in infrastructure.
However, Ms Roumeliotis said, “Planning of population levels and infrastructure should involve all levels of government and other stakeholders, including industry and employer bodies, education and training providers, other service providers, academia, planners and representatives of relevant migrant and other community groups.”
Settlement Services International has co-hosted the International Metropolis Conference held this week in Sydney.
SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis and Professor Peter Shergold
When asked about his involvement in the panel he told the 700-strong audience:
”We need to take an evidence-based approach to ascertain how much of the problem is one of urban infrastructure and how much of it relates to temporary and permanent migration.
”I look forward to gathering a range of opinions and data to assist in making recommendations to the Premier.”
Premier Berejiklian announced on Wednesday that she wanted the state to return to “Howard-era immigration levels”, which would mean halving the state’s migrant intake, due to concerns about population expansion.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the current high rates of population growth are putting even more pressure on our infrastructure,” she said.
The International Metropolis Conference, Sydney is the largest migration and multicultural event in the world. It continues until Friday, November 2.
Speaking yesterday at the International Metropolis Conference, held in Sydney this week, Professor Castles said, “While 28 per cent of our population comes from overseas, it’s always been that the latest group is to blame for the problems we face on the day.
“In the ’50s it was the Italians and Greeks, in the ’60s it was the Vietnamese who were blamed for crime, the drug trade and so on.”
Professor Castles’ message was timely as yesterday the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced that, due to concerns about population expansion, she wanted the state to return to “Howard-era immigration levels”, which would mean halving the state’s migrant intake.
She appointed a three-member panel to develop a NSW population policy to take to the federal government next year.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the current high rates of population growth are putting even more pressure on our infrastructure,” she said.
As reported in The Guardian (October 31, 2018), permanent arrivals in Australia are the same as in the time under Prime Minister John Howard, however net overseas migrant arrivals have been driven by students, tourists and skilled migrants.
On the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, Professor Castles said that, while those groups received a lot of attention, they only constituted a very small part of Australia’s intake; the largest part was from skilled migration, people with permission to come here, work and stay permanently.
“We have to change the perception that economic migration is good and persecuted migration is bad — it is terribly short-sighted. Across the world, there are 30,000 people a day who must leave their homes to seek asylum, and Australia only takes roughly 15,000 people a year.
“Refugees have made a huge contribution to economy and society, and it isn’t fair not to recognise that.
“Australia used to be a leader in human rights, and now we have become a leader in violating human rights.”
The International Metropolis Conference, Sydney is the largest migration and multicultural event in the world. It continues until Friday, November 2.
Tolu Olubunmi: the stories of the seekers of truth, and the curators of change, make the biggest impact.
World-renowned expert on migration research, Professor Ian Goldin from Oxford University, revealed fresh evidence of the impact of migration for growth of economies, fiscal costs and benefits at the International Metropolis Conference.
Professor Goldin’s research, conducted in conjunction with Citi, found that across the globe migrants are:
- 2 to 3 times more likely to start businesses
- 2 to 4 times more likely to start ‘unicorn’ businesses
- 2 to 3 times more likely to win Nobel Prizes
- 2 to 4 times more likely to lodge patents
The report, Migration and the Economy: Economic Realities, Social Impacts and Political Choices, throws light on the growing disconnect between public perceptions of migration and the actual trends.
In many advanced economies, migration has become a toxic issue in election campaigns and political debate, however the authors’ fiscal analysis shows no evidence of the negative perceptions of the impact of migration.
Migrant advocate and entrepreneur, Ms Tolu Olubunmi, said, while the statistics painted the picture, it was the “stories of the seekers of truth, and the curators of change” that made the biggest impact.
“The free movement of people is not a problem to be solved, but rather a human reality to be managed,” she said. “There are 244 million international migrants, 65.3 million of whom have been forced from their homes, and 21 million are refugees.
“Rather than trying to work out what the statistics mean, I focus on the individual lives hidden in the shadows of the numbers. I focus on the fathers and the mothers, the employers and the employees, the displaced and the determined.”
As a child, Ms Olubunmi was brought to the USA from Nigeria. After completing her chemical engineering degree, she discovered she didn’t have the legal status to work in her profession. This crushing blow, inspiring her to take action.
“Being able to live your best life, is sometimes determined by having a certain piece of paper. I had a clear choice, to leave the fate of my life to others who were much more powerful than me, or to be part of the solution and start advocating to change the USA law.”
She was the first, and only, “DREAMer” working full-time advocating for access to legal status and higher education for migrant youth in the USA.
Her intuitive knowledge of effectively shifting culture, coupled with an unrelenting pursuit of the technical skills necessary to build and message movements, launched a career that took her from The National Immigration Law Centre to the Obama White House and then the world stage.
Violet Roumeliotis, CEO of Settlement Services International (SSI), conference co-chair and current Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year, said Australia’s conversation around migration and multiculturalism drew a sharp dichotomy.
“One on hand we have generous resettlement programs, and a strong history of welcoming people, however, we’ve also had the White Australia policy and have drawn international criticism of our offshore processing program.
“We live within a complex global environment, and there is no such thing as ‘business as usual’ in migration.
“We have world experts, people with lived experience and policy makers together in this unique think tank here at Metropolis. We want you to come up with new ideas, be challenging and be challenged,” said Ms Roumeliotis.
The International Metropolis Conference (www.metropolis2018.org.au) is being held at ICC Sydney, October 29 – November 2, 2018.
Population Policy
SSI supports a population conversation that brings balance, fact and data on Australia’s migration program to ensure our successful multicultural social fabric and community cohesion are not undermined. SSI acknowledges the strong multi-party support for Australia’s non-discriminatory migration program and investment towards the successful settlement and integration of newcomers.
Migration has clear economic and social benefits for Australia. The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report Migrant Intake into Australia (2016) found that with net migration at the historic average rate, GDP per person is projected to increase by some 7% relative to zero net overseas migration by 2060.
SSI encourages stronger government stewardship and longer-term coordination of the skilled migration program, as flagged by the Productivity Commission. Currently the skilled migration intake — which accounts for about 60% of the annual migrant intake, and 90% is reported to settle in Sydney and Melbourne — is driven primarily by individual businesses and shorter-term needs for skilled staff.
Regional Resettlement
SSI welcomes dialogue on the benefits of newcomers settling in regional cities and towns; noting that central to healthy community development is the investment in both capital and social infrastructure.
As a provider of settlement services in regional NSW, SSI sees first-hand the benefits to local economies and community social cohesion when regional settlement is driven by local communities welcoming newcomers.
Findings emerging from a three-year study of settlement of recently arrived refugees in NSW, Victoria and Queensland (conducted by Collins and Reid) confirm that a warm welcome makes all the difference, with 68% of Queensland respondents in the study reporting that it was “very easy” or “easy” to make friends in Australia.
SSI acknowledges the need to ensure industry and employment opportunities are in place, and recognises the opportunity to match the skills of new migrants with the skill shortages in rural and regional Australia.
In developing a population planning framework, SSI would welcome the involvement of community and settlement service providers, to inform the creation of a population policy.
SSI is committed to being part of ongoing conversations to enable the establishment of settlement support services and settlement strategies for migrants in target locations, and to link new migrant families with employment, opportunities and community.
AWMA recognises the contribution and value of First Nations and multicultural performers by acknowledging excellence in artistry and musicianship, technical and production skills, cross-cultural development, songwriting, music education, music photography, film making, management, humanitarian work, leadership and more.
AWMA is the brainchild of Founding Director and Sydney-based music producer Vicki Gordon. It was established to address the under-representation of Australian women artists on the radio, in festival line-ups, as award recipients and in the boardrooms of the Australian music industry by empowering women and recognising their value, achievements and contributions.
Ms Gordon said the partnership between AWMA and SSI was unique and that, through joint commitment and collaboration to the cause, AWMA and SSI had an incredible opportunity to cast the spotlight on talented women from culturally diverse backgrounds.
“The partnership provides an opportunity for first arrivals to engage in a supportive environment set up to empower disadvantaged women through music,” Ms Gordon said.
“AWMA provides opportunities for networking with First Nations and multi-cultural artists and music practitioners by creating a direct connection to the broader music industry sector.”
Australian Telstra Business Woman of the Year 2017 and SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said the partnership between AWMA and SSI created a platform where culturally diverse female artists could become recognised for their talents and contributions to the Australian music industry.
“The Diversity in Music Award aligns with SSI’s Arts and Culture vision of advancing cultural diversity and supporting newly arrived artists to participate and contribute to Australia’s multicultural arts and culture communities,” Ms Roumeliotis said.
“The collaboration between AWMA and SSI will support diverse communities in building artistic bridges and recognise the wonderful and varied talent that we have here in Australia, and that there really are great opportunities for all who want to contribute.”
Among the stellar list of artists endorsing AWMA as a groundbreaking initiative is former refugee and renowned hip-hop artist Kween G, who will be performing live at a launch event in Sydney on September 12.
Kween G sits on the AWMA Advisory Council and has been a long-time supporter and collaborator with SSI through its flagship Arts and Culture festival, New Beginnings. Kween G is an excellent example of the participation of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in the Australian music industry.
The inaugural Australian Women in Music Awards (AWMA) will be staged in QLD at the Brisbane Powerhouse, October 9-10, 2018 2018. AWMA will present a series of free forums, a key note address by Kate Ceberano, a film screening, a photographic exhibition and unique networking opportunities.
Media enquiries:
SSI Communications Officer Rebeka Selmeczki;
M: 0468 998 300
It will also serve as the launch of new work by Settlement Services International (SSI) artists Karmeen Yalda, Mariam Abbas and Emmanuel Asante.
Festival-goers can get happy-snaps in front of the artists’ contribution to a community mural created by Muralisto in partnership with SSI’s Arts and Culture program.
Zoe Edema from Muralisto said the mural centred on multiculturalism and diversity.
“Muralisto is dedicated to using public art as a vehicle for social change,” she said.
“We do this with youth-focused art mentorships. Working with groups of young people, we start by discussing social issues and incorporate them into the plan for the mural, and then they work with our mentors to paint them.”
Karmeen Yalda said her experience attending workshops in the lead-up to painting the mural had allowed her to learn about the past and present of some of the world’s most magnificent artworks.
“It was one of the best experiences. I was so delighted and happy and would love to join again,” she said.
Self-taught artist Emmanuel Asante was first connected to SSI through Headspace when battling depression. He said his experience with SSI was like a dream come true.
“I feel more alive and useful because I am contributing more and my art is recognised,” he said.
“Meeting people who are passionate about art gives me self-satisfaction because, where I come from, art is held in disdain. There is no other joy than hearing a compliment from kids: ‘I want to draw like him!’”
Eat Your Heart Out Liverpool will be held on August 25, 2 pm – 9 pm, in Railway Street, Liverpool. See the program for more information.
SSI supports a population conversation that brings balance, fact and data on Australia’s migration program so that our successful multicultural social fabric and community cohesion are not undermined.
SSI acknowledges the strong multi-party support for Australia’s non-discriminatory migration program and investment towards the successful settlement and integration of newcomers.
Migration has clear economic as well as social benefits for Australia. The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report Migrant Intake into Australia in 2016 found that with net migration at the historic average rate, GDP per person is projected to increase by some 7% relative to zero net overseas migration by 2060.
SSI supports the Productivity Commission’s recommendation from this inquiry that the Australian government should articulate a population policy to be published alongside the periodic intergenerational report.
SSI also supports the Productivity Commission’s recommendation that, in determining the migrant intake, the Australian government should give greater consideration to the implications for planning and investment and that State and Territory governments should develop detailed infrastructure plans that are consistent with population growth.
SSI notes the Productivity Commission’s extensive deliberations in the 2016 inquiry on the aim of the skilled migration stream and the goal of the stream to contribute to economic development and meet labour market needs within the broader context of maximising the wellbeing of the Australian community.
As flagged by the Productivity Commission, SSI encourages stronger government stewardship and longer-term coordination of the skilled migration program to meet this objective.
Currently the skilled migration intake — which accounts for about 60% of the annual migrant intake, of which about 90% is reported to settle in Sydney and Melbourne — is driven primarily by individual businesses and shorter-term needs for skilled staff.
SSI welcomes the cross-sectoral support of peak business, union, multicultural and settlement organisations for Australia’s permanent migration program as expressed through the recently released National Compact on Permanent Migration.
SSI also welcomes dialogue on the benefits of newcomers settling in regional cities and towns.
As a provider of settlement services in regional areas, SSI sees first-hand the benefits to local economies and community social cohesion when regional settlement is driven by local communities welcoming newcomers. Findings emerging from a three-year study of settlement of recently arrived refugees in NSW, Victoria and Queensland (conducted by Collins and Reid) confirm that a warm welcome makes all the difference, with 68% of Queensland respondents in the research study reporting it was “very easy” or “easy” to make friends in Australia.