Editors: Kerry
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8.4 OverviewWhile participants in the Toowoomba focus groups expressed a range of concerns about the social costs associated with migration, and certainly more than those raised by Shepparton informants, the majority can still be regarded as short term integration issues that relate mostly to the newest arrival of humanitarian migrants. The only long term cost related to an anxiety that current high levels of welfare dependency among humanitarian arrivals would continue should their integration and settlement into the city go awry. Given the strong local government leadership on this issue, Commonwealth funding for regional settlement and support for the regional settlement programme by the Mayor and Churches in particular this scenario seems unlikely. In terms of Visa categories, clearly most of the costs relate to humanitarian entrants. Many of the social costs are born entirely by the first generation of migrants, while others are born by the wider host community. There were mixed feelings about using overseas skilled migration to meet regional skill shortages, but most participants would have preferred training local labour. Overall the long term social benefits were considered to far outweigh the short term social costs associated with migration. EndnotesSettlement Services for Migrants and Humanitarian Entrants The Department of Immigration and Citizenship administers a range of Programmes and services to provide settlement support to new migrants and humanitarian entrants. Settlement assistance begins with providing pre-embarkation information to new migrants through the departmental website and the Australian Cultural Orientation Programme (AUSCO). AUSCO aims to enhance humanitarian entrants’ settlement prospects and create realistic expectations for their life in Australia. The Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy (IHSS) provides initial, intensive settlement assistance for humanitarian entrants for up to twelve months after arrival. Entrant’s needs are assessed and addressed through an integrated case management approach that provides orientation, accommodation, and household assistance as well as short term torture and trauma counselling. The Adult Migrant English Programme (AMEP) provides English language tuition to entrants who do not have functional English and the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) provides a national translating and interpreting service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Settlement Grants Programme (SGP) provides further settlement support to new humanitarian entrants for up to five years after arrival. The SGP funds projects that will deliver practical assistance to promote self reliance, inclusion and participation in Australian society. Many of the on-arrival and longer-term needs of migrants, such as employment, education and health care, are shared with the wider Australian community. Government requires that agencies responsible for providing these services to the Australian community generally, are also responsible for providing their services in a culturally appropriate way to their migrant and refugee clients. Over the last year, 16 Australian Government Agencies have been working together to develop strategies to improve the settlement outcomes of humanitarian entrants through an Interdepartmental Committee (IDC) on Humanitarian Settlement. Those agencies are now developing concrete proposals for consideration by government. (Source: DIAC Background Document, April 2007) Directory: sites -> default -> files -> documents -> 01 2014 documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Mobile audio/video recording systems documents -> The south australian government gazette documents -> All public acts appearing in this gazette are to be considered official, and obeyed as such documents -> Union interparlementaire inter-parliamentary union 01 2014 -> Voices Shaping the 01 2014 -> Muslim Voices – Hopes and aspirations of Muslim Australians Centre for Muslim Minorities & Islam Policy Studies 01 2014 -> Prepared by: Kais Al‐Momani Nour Dados Marion Maddox Amanda Wise C Download 18.21 Mb. Share with your friends:
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