The government has committed to a revised and more flexible approach to English language programs offered to humanitarian refugees and alternative methods of connecting refugees with employment. This follows a recent review of Australia’s humanitarian refugee resettlement program which calls for significant reform to language and employment services. Only a small minority of refugees are completing the 1,000 hours of free English classes provided and the refugee unemployment rate remains high.
As part of these reforms, refugees will be incentivised to resettle in regional areas. While over 70 per cent of refugees are currently settling in the major cities of Sydney Brisbane and Melbourne, there is now a target of 50 per cent of humanitarian arrivals to be settled in regional centres by 2022. A new Refugee and Migrant Services Advisory Council is being established to engage businesses and encourage new training and employment programs. Refugee advocacy and service organisations have welcomed the government’s focus on employment as a key aspect of settlement.
Clashes erupted between of thousands of asylum seekers and security forces on the Greek island of Lesbos, amid escalating tensions due to poor and severely overcrowded conditions of the migrant camps and delays in processing. Extra squads of riot police were called in, and teargas was used on the protestors, who are mainly Afghan asylum seekers. The United Nations has called on authorities to move thousands of refugees currently on Greek islands to the mainland.