The federal government has announced a move to fight high unemployment among migrants and refugees, citing a risk of entrenched unemployment among those communities.
To this end, it has introduced a multi-million-dollar fund it hopes will help people new to Australia gain work.
The federal government says official statistics showing 8.5 per cent of migrants are unemployed, compared with 4.6 per cent of the broader population, mean it is time to act.
As a result, Employment Minister Brendan O'Connor has launched a $6 million Migrant Communities Employment Fund aimed at creating job opportunities.
Mr O'Connor is calling on migrant groups and employment agencies to apply for the grants of up to $200,000 each.
He is hoping the scheme will help immigrant and refugee job seekers find meaningful work that utilises their prior qualifications and experience.
He says the scheme is in Australia's best interests and also gives migrants the dignity and security to help establish their lives.
"It's not just about financial independence, it's about providing a path for the social and physical well-being of individuals and their families to flourish. The government also recognises that migrants arriving in a new country, especially those arriving on humanitarian visas, face great challenges getting themselves set up, compared with other job seekers."
Mr O'Connor says a range of challenges face migrants, including language and cultural barriers as well as difficulty in navigating the job-seeking system.
Greens deputy leader and workplace relations spokesman Adam Bandt says barriers to employment also include instances where prior qualifications are not recognised.
And, he says, where migrants lack adequate local work experience.
But he says discrimination also plays a part.
"I remember a couple of years ago at a barbecue that I hosted at the housing flats in Carlton,* talking to someone who'd finished his finance degree a short while ago and had put in 100 odd applications. His name was Mohamed. He hadn't even got a job interview. And then he told me, when he changed his name to David on the job application, all of a sudden the phone started ringing. Now, that's just heartbreaking that people with the same qualifications and skills aren't even getting job interviews. There is discrimination at the moment."
Mr Bandt says he has played a role in negotiating the new scheme and it is not just newly arrived migrants who struggle to find work.
He says those who have been in Australia for decades struggle, too.
Mr Bandt says, while the national strategy will help engage what he calls a highly productive, yet untapped, pool of talent, he thinks other steps are also required.
He says it is also important to make it easier for migrants to start businesses by making it easier for migrants to navigate the bureaucratic obstacles.
Federation of Ethnic Communities Council chairman Pino Migliorino says employment is the biggest issue among the ethnic communities his organisation works with.
"The reality is anyone who gets into a taxi and has a discussion with that taxi driver will probably find that the taxi driver has a number of degrees or qualifications or experiences, yet they're driving a taxi. So then the question is, if we are bringing people to Australia because of their skills -- and I'm talking right now in terms of the skilled-based migration -- can we afford to then not utilise them in the areas of expertise for which they have been chosen?"
But Mr Migliorino says the shrinking manufacturing sector is also having an impact, particularly on older migrant workers.
"I think (who) the Government is now starting to understand a lot, lot more is the group of older workers who are working in manufacturing from a non-English speaking background who are now being placed into either the retraining or the unemployment environment through, if you like, the reduction in manufacturing in Australia. With every single factory that closes, it's actually delivering more and more people from non-English speaking backgrounds either requiring extra training or into unemployment."
Brendan O'Connor says he hopes the new fund will make it easier for migrants to get the appropriate skills and training.
But he is also calling on Australian employers to give migrants and refugees more opportunity.
"It's important we recognise just how difficult and strenuous a journey it can be for someone to leave their extended family, their home country, their job, to start their new life here in Australia. All Australians deserve a chance for a better life, and, what's more, it is important that we do so not only for the interest for those people that need that assistance but for the entire community, the entire society. We need people to be socially and economically engaged. It's in their interests. It's in the interest of their families, their communities and, indeed, for social and economic reasons, this country."
Applications for the grants close on July the 19th.
More information can be found on the Department of Employment's website.
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