In 2017 the number of refugees arriving in Australia effectively doubled the intake of previous decades. This is because most of the special one-off intake of 12,000 Syrian Conflict refugees that was announced by Prime Minister Abbott in 2015 in fact arrived in 2017. In addition, the annual intake of humanitarian entrants was increased to 16,250 in 2017-18. Most of these newly-arrived refugee families settled in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
As part of a study on Settlement Outcomes of Refugee Families in Australia, funded by the Australian Research Council, and led by Professor Jock Collins (University of Technology Sydney), Professor Carol Reid (Western Sydney University), and Associate Professor Dimitria Groutsis (University of Sydney), the first of three years of data collection has been completed. With the assistance of partners in the project, we interviewed and surveyed newly arrived refugee families from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, in metropolitan and regional locations in two states: New South Wales, partnered with Settlement Services International; and Queensland, partnered with Multicultural Development Australia Ltd, and Access Community Services. AMES Australia, a further partner in the research, interviewed and surveyed newly arrived refugee families from Syria and Iraq, in metropolitan Melbourne and in regional Shepparton, Victoria.
Reports are being released periodically and can be viewed here: https://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/our-research/centre-business-and-social-innovation/research/projects/settlement-outcomes-refugee-families-australia