Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, I present the committee's report, incorporating dissenting reports together with a corrigendum, entitled No one teaches you to become an Australian: report of the inquiry into migrant settlement outcomes.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, it gives me great pleasure to present the committee's report incorporating a corrigendum for its inquiry into migrant settlement outcomes.

Each year, approximately 200,000 people from across the seas choose to make Australia their permanent home. They come to work, to be near their families and loved ones, and to enjoy the safe and secure lifestyle our nation is famous for.

The majority of new arrivals enter via the Migration Program for skilled and family migrants. A fluctuating number of new arrivals also come through the humanitarian program. These humanitarian entrants often have a refugee background and are the main focus of this inquiry.

This inquiry had a particular consideration of the social engagement of youth migrants, and what can be done to address issues arising from antisocial behaviour such as gang activity.

The committee understands every migrant's journey is different and there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to settlement services. But the system will be improved by the committee's recommendations, including:

The committee is also of the view that more needs to be done to protect Australian communities from those migrants who are at risk of violent extremism.

Strengthening the character test provisions under section 501 of the Migration Act to remove repeat offenders will make Australia safer for everyone. Visa cancellation and deportation is an effective way of disrupting and preventing organised crime, and I've no doubt it'll also be an effective means to target violent youth gang crime. The mandatory cancellation of visas for offenders between 16 and 18 years of age who've been convicted of a serious violent crime, such as a machete attack, and for those over 18 who are convicted of a serious offence, such as a sexual assault, serious assault, home invasion or carjacking, will stop crime and keep communities secure. I make the point that at the moment there's no age limit for the character test, so this will put a stringent regime in place for those between the ages of 16 and 18 for violent crime where someone is seriously injured.

Establishing community protection intervention orders will give migrant parents who do not want to see their troubled teenagers get involved in the lure of extremism an important measure to help young people and protect Australians from terrorist attacks. If it is made clear to new arrivals that committing crimes may jeopardise their ability to become Australian citizens in the future or result in a visa cancellation and deportation, migrants will think twice before engaging in criminal activity and will be more likely to commit to make a meaningful contribution, as most do in our homeland.

The Australian Migration Program is a huge success. I acknowledge the presence of the committee's deputy chair, Maria Vamvakinou, here today. When the committee went around the world, we visited the UK and the US and we saw how good Australia's migrant program actually is. Thousands of people who make their home here each year do make a real contribution to our society. If we are to continue this, we need to focus on early intervention and support programs to make sure new arrivals have the best start possible in their new homeland. At the same time, we need to make it very clear to those who commit serious and violent crimes that their actions have consequences and they forfeit their passage to becoming Australian citizens. Getting this balance right is essential so our young nation can continue to be a safe and welcoming place for new arrivals in the future.

I would like to sincerely thank all the stakeholders—the other committee members, especially the deputy chair; the state and territory governments; the police; the community groups; and the religious and cultural organisations—for their time in preparing submissions and appearing in public hearings. I would also like to give very special thanks to those involved in the committee secretariat: Ms Pauline Cullen, Ms Susan Cardell, Mr Paul Zinkel, Mr James Bunce, Ms Phillipa Blackwood, Ms Belynda Zolotto, Ms Stacey Borg, Ms Tanya Pratt and Ms Fiona McCann. I commend this report and corrigendum to the House.

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

by leave—I welcome the opportunity as Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration to speak to the tabling of our report titled No one teaches you to become an Australian: report of the inquiry into migrant settlement outcomes. Making a new home in a new country isn't easy, yet thousands of people each year do so, and they make it work. They work hard and they're able to orient themselves into a new life here in Australia. In fact, since Arthur Calwell's post Second World War nation-building migration program, millions of migrants and refugees have settled in Australia, making this country the most successful multicultural nation in the world. Our country has achieved this successful migration program through the strategic planning and provision of well-targeted settlement services designed to assist newly arrived migrants and refugees with their settlement and integration into the broader Australian community. By focusing on English language training and community and cultural orientation, we have been a success story, as the chair has so rightly said.

However, settlement into a new and foreign country is not without its challenges, for both the newly arrived and the community, and especially for the service delivery agencies tasked with assisting the integration process. Melbourne-based Sudanese-born youth worker Gum Mamur, who works with the Les Twentyman Foundation in Victoria, summed up the challenges for migrants, especially young migrants, and refugees integrating into Australian life when he said, 'No-one teaches you to become an Australian.' So this report is aptly named as such, and I'm told by Les Twentyman that Gum is very, very chuffed that the report has been named after a comment that he made to the committee.

This inquiry was a timely opportunity to consider whether the settlement services available in Australia are appropriately targeted and sufficient to successfully support migrants and refugees, in particular the young, who have journeyed to make Australia their home. It was an opportunity to consider evidence based material and to find out how the government could improve its support of new arrivals across the country to help migrants become contributing, engaged members of society and to ensure government migration resources are being used efficiently and effectively.

It's clear Australia is at the forefront internationally of settlement and support services for new migrants. As the chair said, the committee visited the UK, Sweden, Germany and the United States in July last year and our visit affirmed that without doubt. Of course, there is always more that can be done. The evidence submitted to the committee makes a clear case for more flexibility within the migrant settlement program. The robust and consistent evidence in the 115 submissions the committee received has, for the most part, reflected the views of those who participated in the inquiry. The committee made a number of worthwhile recommendations for the government to improve migrant settlement services. Mindful of the time, I won't go through those at this point. I'm hoping to be able to do that another time.

Despite the many fine recommendations that we as a committee have made and agreed to, not all of this report objectively reflects the evidence presented during the inquiry. It ignores crucial contextual details in places and gives undue emphasis in others. There is minimal or no evidence to justify some recommendations made by the committee. As such, Labor members of the committee dissent from recommendations 15 to 18. In particular, recommendations 17 and 18 are clearly outside the terms of reference of the inquiry. Despite there being minimal or no evidence, the report focuses on young humanitarian entrants from Sudanese backgrounds who engage in criminal activity. The purpose of this inquiry was to investigate issues relating to migrant settlement outcomes. Labor members are concerned the committee has drawn conclusions and recommendations based on opinion and anecdotal evidence and has made recommendations outside the scope of the terms of reference. As such, some aspects of the report do not reflect the evidence received and ignore the wider context of Australia's migration situation.

This inquiry's focus on humanitarian entrants and youth crime missed the opportunity to review settlement outcomes for the vast majority of new arrivals. Despite this, it is a report that carries important recommendations around improving our settlement service programs while providing more flexibility and appropriately adjusting the nature and delivery of settlement services in order to meet the challenges of Australia's migrant program in the 21st century. For that, I commend the report.

Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.