The Australian public is invited to provide submissions to be considered in the planning and development of Australia’s Humanitarian Programme for 2016-17.
The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton said the consultation process will inform the Government’s decision about the size and composition of the programme.
“Australia has a proud record of resettling refugees and people in humanitarian need from around the world,” Mr Dutton said.
“Since 1947, Australia has welcomed more than 825,000 people from different countries under the Humanitarian Programme in response to changing global resettlement needs.”
The programme provides permanent resettlement to those most in need, who are in desperate situation overseas, including in refugee camps and protracted humanitarian situations.
“Australia is one of only a small number of countries that operate an annual permanent resettlement programme and ranks in the top three resettlement countries each year, along with the United States and Canada,” Mr Dutton said.
The Government has committed to increase the size of the Humanitarian Programme from the current level of 13,750 places up to 16,250 places in 2017-18 and 18,750 places in 2018-19.
On 9 September 2015, the Government announced an additional 12,000 places to resettle people displaced by conflicts in Syria and lraq.
A discussion paper Australia’s Humanitarian Programme 2016-17 is now available on the Department of immigration and Border Protection’s website at border.gov.au.