The government has signed new, “reworded” contracts with the organisations that resettle newly arrived refugees, promising to bring down unemployment rates and improve English language skills.
The government will have “higher expectations” that refugees will come out of their resettlement journey with good English and stable jobs, senator Zed Seselja said.
The organisations that won the government tender include some which have years of recent experience, like Settlement Services International.
But in the ACT, the Red Cross won the tender from the incumbent Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services (MARSS).
They were chosen as the “absolute best organisation,” according to senator Zed Seselja, who is the assistant minister for social services and multicultural affairs.
The government is not allocating any new money per refugee, bar a small increase to keep pace with inflation, the senator said.
So the improvements will come from a suite of administrative changes: removing red tape, changing IT systems, rewording the contracts and breaking down bureaucratic barriers between government agencies.
“It will say to these organisations: ‘You will be judged by how many of these humanitarian entrants you are putting into employment, [by] their English language skills,” Senator Sesleja.
Mr Seselja said the unemployment rate for refugees was “significantly higher” than the rest of the population after five years in the country.
A indicated the unemployment rate does persist longer for humanitarian visa holders than those in other categories. It showed 43 percent of working age refugees were still unemployed after 18 months in the country.
“We want to see significantly increased numbers of humanitarian entrants in employment, preferably in full time and stable employment,” Senator Seselja said.
As part of the employment push, the senator flagged reforms to the government’s English lessons for adult migrants.
He said the current system was inflexible and led to many migrants dropping out when they found casual work, making it harder for them to find better jobs later on.
Paris Aristotle, who chairs the government’s advisory council on settlement services, said improvements to the government’s English program would help newly settled refugees with jobs, but also with citizenship applications and social events.
“It’s really important that we invest in helping people learn English to they can participate as fully as possible in Australian society,” Mr Aristotle said.
SBS World News has contacted MARSS, which lost its contract, for a comment.
