Sky News PM Agenda with David Speers
E&OE
David Speers:
The Senator time joins me now. Thank you for your time this afternoon. What do we know about when the first arrivals are likely to come?
Senator Fierravanti-Wells:
Well, David, we are working very closely, Border Protection is working very closely, with officials who have gone over to the region and they are working with UNHCR. Clearly our intention is to get people out here to Australia as soon as we can but we need to do it in an ordered way. We need to locate people. We have indicated that we will be giving priority to persecuted minorities and that is women, children and families. Our officials are working over there. So we do this as quickly as we can but it needs to be done in an ordered and measured way.
David Speers:
When we look at the 12,000, you indicated today most are likely to go to Sydney and Melbourne.
Senator Fierravanti-Wells:
What happens is that once we do know who they are, they have been identified and they go through the appropriate checks overseas and they go through then the orientation process overseas, then their details are communicated to us and to the Department of Social Services. The settlement service machine, if I then can put it that way, kicks in and then we start looking at appropriate places where they could go. More often than not people go to where they have links, where have they have family ties, where they have friends, where certainly in those first few weeks, they feel very, very comfortable. That’s why traditionally they tend to go to areas where they do have linkages and that’s very important for their settlement and for their stable settlement in Australia. And it obviously helps them at that very traumatic time. But then they don’t necessarily stay there. They then potentially can go on to other areas but generally we do see people going to those areas where they do have those linkages.
David Speers:
A couple of technical questions then. Is there any direction as to where they must go or is it entirely their choice as to where they go?
Senator Fierravanti-Wells:
It is their choice, David. Let’s not forget that our humanitarian entrants do come in as permanent residents. So they come in with, full rights. Our settlement services, if I can put it this way, are a very well-oil machine. We have been settling people since World War II. We’ve welcomed 7.5 million migrants to Australia, including 825,000 under our humanitarian program. We have a very established frame work. We have about 16 settlement service providers in 23 different regions around Australia. So that whole machinery will kick in. It depends where people would like to go, where their family ties are and then we look at the ways that we can effectively assist them. We assist them with a whole range of day-to-day things, temporary accommodation and help them find long-term accommodation.
David Speers:
What sort of temporary accommodation is there initially?
Senator Fierravanti-Wells:
Well, again it depends where they are coming from and where they are likely to go. I would envisage that having come from very difficult traumatic circumstances and many of them may have family or friends or people that come from the same village, so one understands that they may wish, to perhaps stay with them but, alternatively, we do have our service providers who will case manage our humanitarian entrants, assist them with short-term accommodation and then help them find long-term accommodation wherever they wish to settle.
David Speers:
Is that like motel-style accommodation until something more permanent can be worked out?
Senator Fierravanti-Wells:
What happens is, our settlement service providers around Australia, and it depends where these groups or these families will go, have well-established linkages with accommodation, with short-term accommodation. So that could vary depending on where the area is. But we need to ensure that they are settled well. Those first six to 12 months are vitally important in resettlement of our humanitarian entrants.
David Speers:
I just want to ask you about that. It absolutely is. This is such a huge adjustment that I don’t think a lot of people can appreciate it. I know I can’t get my head around how you go from living three or four years in a refugee camp, having fled your home, to a country where you may not speak the language, you may not have much in the way of education or work experience yourself and yes, the supports are there but finding a job, enrolling kids in school, the language difficulties, these are huge hurdles, aren’t they?
Senator Fierravanti-Wells:
They are, but we do have, as I said, well-established settlement services. Let me just give you an example. A family may arrive. They will go into short-term accommodation and then the settlement service provider will case manage them; assist them, in terms of getting a household goods package, a food package for the first few weeks. Those sorts of things, we help them assist and connect with services. We help enroll the children in the local school. We do this sort of thing. We help them enroll into English classes, this sort of practical day to day, as you have correctly said. Many of them have been living in refugee camps for a long time, particularly children, and we are looking probably at a high number of children because we are looking at families. So it is really important that we get those networks up and running very, very quickly so that that will help the integration and then, of course, our settlement services, usually people stay in settlement services for about six to nine months. That’s the average. Then our settlement service providers and other networks also provide settlement services beyond that. So we can assist people for up to. five years. As I said, it is very important. Our social cohesion in Australia is the sum of millions of successful settlement journeys and the migration story, David, has been consistent. It is the very reason why people like my parents came out to Australia to build a better life for themselves and for their children. So that’s really the ambition. They come here, they want to get on, they are very enthusiastic and they want to build that better life for themselves and put their often very traumatic past, behind them.
David Speers:
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, the Parliamentary Secretary for immigration and social services, thank you very much for joining us this afternoon.
Senator Fierravanti-Wells:
Thank you very, very much.
[Ends]