Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday, I joined the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, the Hon. Andrew Giles, at the Brotherhood of St Laurence's Broadmeadows office in my electorate. We were given the opportunity to hear firsthand from local refugees about the experiences which have shaped their migration and settlement journey in Australia and the challenges facing refugee youth in particular. Fit-for-purpose programs, such as the Youth Transition Support program, have had a considerable impact on local youth from refugee backgrounds. The program offers targeted assistance for newly arrived young people of refugee backgrounds within education, training, vocational support, community participation and employment. The youth representatives present on that day explained the key challenges to social and economic participation in some of the most formative and developmental years.

For newly arrived young people of refugee background, the most important areas which contribute to improved settlement outcomes centre around programs which deliver an increased awareness of how the system works; increased skills, knowledge and confidence to access the system and improved workplace readiness; and linkages and opportunities to secure outcomes towards employment that lead to long-term economic participation, settlement and greater social cohesion. These contributions to community and the economy by newly arrived migrants cannot be lost to a system mired in a complexity resulting in exclusion and long-term disadvantage. And, as the minister outlined, in assisting in the settlement and integration of new arrivals, we need to ensure that people have a sense of agency, that they are listened to and that they are able to operate in an environment which allows them to unlock the system. These are the foundations of an improved, just and equitable settlement journey.

Areas of economic opportunity and workforce participation are grounded in a complex environment where social disadvantage in any one area often has a direct adverse impact on a whole series of outcomes. When coupled with the intersectional problems facing refugees and refugee youth in particular, the impact is outsized and often enduring. That's why we need relevant programs which break the cycle—programs which are needs based and more importantly outcomes based and which deliver educational training and long-term employment as a pathway to full participation in society.

I want to commend the work of the Brotherhood of St Laurence and Foundation House as well as local organisations, including Banksia Gardens and local employer champion Scalzo Foods. It was the stories of resilience that we heard and experiences shared by our newly arrived local youth which remain the stand out and whose perspectives will, most importantly, outline to help inform and shape the policies of this government, and I want to commend the work of everyone involved.

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