Refugee settlement in Logan City is to be closely examined as part of a new national research project.
While cultural diversity is central to the Australian national identity, little research has been done to explore the main places that refugees settle in Australia.
Now, a joint project, Settlement Cities: A Place-based Look at Humanitarian Settlement in Australia, initiated by the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education aims to explore refugee settlement in depth through the lens of Australia’s major settlement cities.
The 12-month study is being run in partnership with Australian Catholic University and 17 other Australian organisations including local city councils.
The project will focus on refugee settlement in the local government areas of Logan City on Brisbane’s south, Hume, Casey and Greater Dandenong in Melbourne, Fairfield and Liverpool in Sydney’s South West, Salisbury in northern Adelaide.
The study aims to reveal the challenges each city has faced accommodating large numbers of new arrivals, as well as the key lessons learnt by policymakers and politicians about how to tackle refugee settlement.
Director of the Edmund Rice Centre Mr Phil Glendenning said the project was timely given the recent declaration by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the humanitarian emergency in Afghanistan, where more than 600,000 people were displaced from their homes.
While the Australian government set aside 3,000 humanitarian visas in response to the Afghanistan crisis, Mr Glendenning said more research was needed to help Australian cities improve their support to refugees.
“As conflicts escalate and conditions worsen overseas, now more than ever we need to be looking at what Australian cities can be doing to better support our refugees who come here in search of safety and security,” Mr Glendenning said.
“By understanding what has been working well and where we can improve, we can learn from our experience and better support refugees to feel at home in our communities.
“We need to hear about services and experiences on the ground through local councils, non-profits, grassroots organisations and the refugee communities themselves, and that is exactly what this project does.”
Vice-President of ACU Fr Anthony Casamento CSMA said the project would help service providers campaign to state and federal governments for stronger support and more just social policies.
The project is now inviting anyone involved in refugee settlement within any of the focus local government areas, or refugees from those communities, to join the study and contact farian@edmundrice.org.
