SCOA welcomes the recent expansion of humanitarian places to 20,000 places in the 2023-24 Humanitarian Program. We also welcome the government’s commitment to maintain a program of 20,000 places in 2024-2025. This demonstrates progress towards the Labor Party’s...
Culturally diverse migrant and refugee communities significantly contribute to Australia's civic life through various forms of engagement and support. Their engagement often begins within their own communities, not due to segregation, but because these are the spaces...
15 May 2024 The Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA) has welcomed the investment of $120.0 million in settlement services announced in last night’s Federal Budget. SCOA’s Chair, Ms Melissa Monteiro, said “Migrant and refugee services are critical...
The Bi-Cultural Health Navigator program led by the settlement team at Whittlesea Community Connections (WCC) trains people with refugee and migrant backgrounds interested in working in the health sector to understand and better and navigate Australia's health system....
The role of Australia’s migration system in supporting economic growth, workforce productivity and social cohesion is a contemporary policy consideration. The recently released Migration Strategy sets out a roadmap for a once in a generation reform of the system,...
30 April 2024 The Settlement Council of Australia, the peak body for Australia’s migrant and refugee services, welcomes the Federal Government’s decision mandating government agencies to pass on indexation to community sector grant recipients where grant programs are...
16th April 2024On behalf of our 130 member organisations around the country, the Settlement Council of Australia extends its deepest sympathies to the Assyrian community. We wish Bishop, His Grace, Mar Mari Emmanuel, Father Isaac, and all those injured in yesterday’s...
The Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the Migration Amendment (Removals and Other Measures) Bill 2024 (the Bill). SCOA’s primary concerns with the Bill are...
The Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Select Committee on the Cost of Living.
The Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA) supports the release of the much-awaited Migration Strategy yesterday, however calls for a greater focus on supporting migrants after they arrive. The Council is calling for reforms that are focused on both building a better migration system and a better future for new migrants and refugees.
The Settlement Council of Australia welcomes large scale reform recommendations to fundamentally rebuild the Commonwealth Employment Services System, and urges the government to employ a comprehensive model that prioritises a jobseeker’s strengths over the ineffective...
The Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA) is grateful for the opportunity to make a submission to the Department of Social Services (DSS) on a stronger, more diverse and independent community sector. On the basis of sector wide consultations, SCOA makes six key...