Migrants need special services: Greens

Media Release, 11 June 2008  

The Greens welcome the Report by the Auditor General on “State services for humanitarian entrants” tabled in Parliament today.

“The report shows that mainstreaming services for humanitarian entrants hasn’t worked”, said Giz Watson MLC.

“This comes as no surprise as migrant advocacy groups, such as the Ethnic Communities Council, have been saying this for years,” she said.

We support the Auditor General’s call for more flexible application of policies and program criteria.

“This recommendation should be extended to other migrants such as spouses of 457 visa holders,” Ms Watson said.

“We do not want any migrants to fall through the cracks and currently support services for spouses and children of 457 visa holders are very limited,” she said.

Too few mainstream services have recognised the importance of reducing barriers to humanitarian entrants, particularly women. Nor have they recognised the importance of providing cross-cultural training to their workers. The complex needs of humanitarian migrants are best addressed in specialist services such as the ASeTTS, the Association of Torture and Trauma Survivors.