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About the Department

DIMA Annual Report 2000-01

Report on performance outcome two

This outcome seeks a society which values Australian citizenship, appreciates cultural diversity and enables migrants to participate equitably.

Its supporting departmental outputs are:

  • settlement services

  • translating and interpreting services

  • Australian citizenship

  • appreciation of cultural diversity.

Successful achievement of the outcome depends upon the efforts of a wide range of stakeholders - Commonwealth, State/Territory and local government, business, educators, community organisations, the wider community and individual settlers in Australia. Outcome Two goals are therefore achieved incrementally over time and not by outputs in any one year.

This chapter outlines some indicators of the extent to which the outcome is being achieved, as well as the contribution made by the department.

Extent to which settlement planning arrangements and programs equip migrants and refugees to participate in society

Settlement planning and services are coordinated under the National Integrated Settlement Strategy (NISS) to ensure that migrants and refugees receive the assistance they require to enable them to participate equitably in society. Outcomes are reviewed annually by Settlement Planning Committees constituted in each State/Territory and reported to the Ministerial Council on Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (MIMA).

Targeted settlement services, administered by DIMA, such as the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) and the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS), complement the broad range of mainstream services which facilitate settlement and are accessed by newly-arrived migrants. The planning and coordination of these services as they impact on migrants occur under the auspices of Settlement Planning Committees in each State and Territory.

Indicators of migrant and refugee participation in Australian society are generally very positive, with the overseas-born recording outcomes broadly similar to the Australian-born population over time.

A longer-term view of key indicators for all overseas-born compared to Australian-born shows:

  • employment rates - 92.6 per cent for overseas-born compared to 93.3 per cent for Australian-born (May 2001 ABS Labour Force Survey)

  • skilled workers - 51.6 per cent of employed for overseas-born compared to 50 per cent for Australian-born (May 2001 ABS Labour Force Survey)

  • welfare recipient rates among those of working age - 17.5 per cent for overseas-born compared to 19.3 per cent for Australian-born (calculated from Table 1 of Welfare Recipient Patterns Among Migrants, Birrell and Jupp 2000)

  • home ownership - 42 per cent of overseas-born owned their homes without a mortgage compared to 38.7 per cent of Australian-born (ABS Housing Expenditure Survey (HES) 1998-99)

  • public housing - 5.6 per cent for overseas-born compared to 5.3 per cent for Australian-born (HES 1998-99)

  • income levels - 14.9 per cent of the overseas-born aged 15-plus had an income above the average weekly income compared to 15.4 per cent of Australian-born (1996 Census).

There are a number of factors that influence migrant participation in comparison to the Australian-born. These include skill levels, English-language proficiency and duration of residence.

Migrants with better skills and higher English-language proficiency generally achieve outcomes ahead of those with fewer skills and lower English proficiency.

A research project Settlement Indicators and Benchmarks is being undertaken to establish indicators of settlement success for migrants and refugees in greater detail.

The department aims to target its settlement services at those eligible settlers with the greatest need, to help them participate in Australian society.

The department is looking to surveys of its settlement program clients to provide information on the extent to which the department's programs equip migrants and refugees to participate equitably.

A national AMEP client survey was undertaken between May and October 2000. 3,203 AMEP clients and former clients were interviewed to gain an independent assessment of each AMEP service provider's performance as well as to get an overall measure of client satisfaction with the AMEP.

Clients were asked how helpful the AMEP had been in helping them feel more confident about living in Australia. Overall, 79 per cent found the AMEP had been very helpful or helpful, and a further 17 per cent found it a little helpful. AMEP clients were also asked to rate how helpful their English tuition had been to them across a range of fundamental settlement needs such as shopping, using public transport and making new friends. Client responses were positive with over 80 per cent of respondents regarding the AMEP as helpful in these three areas.

A survey will be undertaken in 2000-01 of users of a broader range of DIMA-funded settlement services, including TIS and Migrant Resource Centres.

Extent to which the settlement needs of new refugees and humanitarian entrants are met

The 3,997 refugees arriving under visa subclasses 200, 201, 203 and 204 under the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy (IHSS) were entitled to a comprehensive range of IHSS services, which included accommodation support, information and orientation, help in setting up home and access to early health intervention and torture and trauma counselling.

Over 2,000 humanitarian entrants were helped by volunteers within the IHSS. Volunteers have maintained their excellent record in settling refugees as well as offering them friendship and social support at the most critical time of their settlement in a new society.

Some IHSS assistance was also provided to those humanitarian entrants proposed by relatives or community organisations.

Early health intervention including access to initial torture and trauma counselling where required was accessed by 4,800 humanitarian entrants.

Surveys will be conducted in 2001-02 to assess the level of satisfaction with IHSS services by humanitarian entrants. In addition, it is also proposed to evaluate the IHSS service model, beginning with an evaluation of those IHSS service types which have been operating under contract for more than 12 months.

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