(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
The federal budget includes extra funding for program to help disadvantaged children, including those with disabilities from migrant and refugee families.
Those working with migrants and refugees are also welcoming funding for mental health support services for vulnerable young people.
Zara Zaher has the details.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)
Young people at risk of long-term welfare dependency will be the target of a 330-million dollar jobs package announced in the federal budget.
Almost one-third of the package goes for intensive support for young people facing significant barriers to employment.
One target group are vulnerable young migrants.
Eddie Micallef from the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria says it's a step in the right direction.
"Well that's extremely important because a whole range of refugees and young people, often with mental health problems - refugees especially and locals who have mental health issues - often get involved in the drug scene and I've had a long involvement in that area. Some of them even get sucked into the radical programs that are attractive to some people so anything that responds to that challenge is welcome."
Mr Micallef has also welcomed an announcement in the federal budget that the government will increase the number of places available within Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program over the next four years.
The intake will remain steady at just under 14,000 places in the 2016-17 financial year growing to just under 19,000 places in 2018-19.
It says the increase in the intake comes after its success in stopping asylum seeker boats, at a saving of around 500 million dollars in this year's budget.
Mr Micallef says while he welcomes the increase, Australia could be doing more.
"Well 500 million dollars...it may have stopped the boats but it hasn't stopped the problem. The world has a problem so we may have solved our own particular little problem but the world wide problem exists and I think that that's rather unfortunate. We should up the program to bring in more refugees and I think this country is wealthy enough and I think it's up to us to show a bit of magnanimous approach to the rest of the poorer countries who are suffering from a whole range of issues that affect their standard of living."
The federal budget allows for up to 190,000 places for permanent migration over the next 12 months.
This will include around 128,000 places for skilled migration, 57,000 for family migration and an extra 3,500 places for child migrants.
Joe Caputo from the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia says he's happy with the figures - and with the budget overall.
"Look I think that the migration program has always been good for the country and I think that it will continue to be good because it's fairly balanced and the Australian community and the Australian economy greatly benefits from a program such as this. I think that at a glance, the budget announced tonight is fairly benign, fairly welcoming. It wasn't like last year where we had great concern. This year seems to be a fairly balanced budget."
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