Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with much concern that I rise tonight to speak on an issue that all members in this place will find disturbing. Today a press release was issued by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship on settlement services in the Newcastle region. Accompanying the press release was a list of recommendations made by Ernst and Young, and the full report by Ernst and Young is on the DIAC website and makes for some very disturbing reading.

The independent review and its report, Provision of humanitarian support services in the Hunter region, was announced by the minister only two days after receiving widespread complaints from the member for Newcastle. In question time today the minister told the House that it did not make for pretty reading. He was right about that: it is not pretty; it is pretty appalling. The IHSS is designed to resettle humanitarian refugees into Australian society. These people have suffered from unthinkable acts perpetrated against them in their own country. They have arrived here in an orderly manner under our humanitarian entrants program only to be subjected to further degradation and poor treatment. Having accepted these vulnerable individuals, our government has an obligation to help them settle into society.

Ernst and Young have recommended 12 action items to correct as a result of their investigation. I note that the minister said today that the more severe allegations have been referred to the New South Wales police force. This government should be ashamed. The report shows families are being ripped-off by service providers and these providers should have been subject to more rigorous review. In addition to being ripped-off, these people have had to live in squalid and unsafe conditions. The list of terrible conditions is long: significant overcrowding, unsafe living conditions, no hot water, holes in the roof, no windows in a child's bedroom, and large families are staying in places designed for short-term accommodation of six to 10 weeks and they have been there for more than nine months.

The department was made aware of the problems and, despite the service provider being asked to correct the problems, nothing was done. Clearly no oversight on the provision of services has been taking place. These terrible scenarios have breached the IHSS agreements and are yet another indication of how this government is failing these families. The report shows houses that were so bad that they were considered uninhabitable. Some of the families in this type of accommodation not only had to live in unsafe and inadequate accommodation but also had to pay above the market rate for that meagre housing. The report outlines instances where they were required to pay almost 50 per cent of their welfare payments in rent alone.

The department has had rigorous obligations to approve and review accommodation for refugees; however, Ernst and Young could not find any documentation of approvals or inspections taking place. The audit found many areas that were a cause of deep concern. The potential for negative impacts on the immediate welfare of individuals and their long-term settlement is great, the report said. A month ago I called for spot checks to be conducted and for a widening of the audit to include all settlement services currently in place. Ernst and Young have agreed with me and have suggested that this problem could be widespread across the country, and they have certainly made this a key recommendation in the report.

We have been pursuing this particular issue at estimates over a period of time and we have asked the government to detail what measures of accountability and service delivery have been occurring. We read in the report that information for the monitoring of settlement services was sourced through feedback surveys of humanitarian entrants. This feedback was obtained through interviews and questionnaires of people with very poor English skills and little understanding of what they were being asked. Ernst and Young have also asked the government to ensure that key performance indicators are built into the settlement services contract, and the report also said that the application of the governance and accountability arrangements does not appear to be effective.

This government not only has lost control of its borders but also has lost control of the care and welfare of our humanitarian program.