Better settlement planning for refugees and migrants
Media Release - 11 May 2006
Settlement planning for refugees and migrants coming to Australia will be made more efficient through an improved settlement planning system developed by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA).
DIMA Secretary Andrew Metcalfe said today the new settlement planning framework would provide a nationally-coordinated and more consistently structured approach.
‘This approach will improve client service delivery by improving communication and providing better planning tools to the many organisations, governments and groups involved in delivering settlement services Australia-wide,’ Mr Metcalfe said.
‘Australia has a strong track record in helping new entrants to become self-sufficient as soon as possible, so they can participate fully in Australian society.
‘This framework will be a key tool for settlement services providers to help plan services effectively.
‘Each year thousands of refugees, humanitarian entrants and migrants start a new life in Australia. The framework, developed in consultation with the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council, will help with early identification of their settlement needs,’ Mr Metcalfe said.
The Chair of the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council, Major General Warren Glenny, supported the cooperative approach underpinning the new framework.
‘The cooperative approach is certainly the best approach,’ Major General Glenny said.
‘Communicating effectively, and often, is the key to ensuring that we offer the best possible assistance to people settling in Australia.’
A range of support material will be developed for the framework, including annual settlement needs reports that provide data on the settlement patterns and needs of new entrants in each state and territory, and a range of community profiles of new and emerging communities arriving under the humanitarian programme.
Copies of the National Framework for Settlement Planning can be obtained by phoning DIMA National Communications Branch on (02) 6264 2244.