How does New Zealand’s resettlement process compare to Australia?

With the recent decision by the New Zealand government to increase the annual refugee quota to 1500, it’s important to ensure that New Zealand is prepared to take on the influx of people; looking at the resettlement process. Benchmarking New Zealand’s resettlement process to Australia is one way to where we can see opportunities to further develop and improve this process.

This was the focus of a recent study conducted ARCC’s General Manager, Abann Yor with support from The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, benchmarking New Zealand specifically to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

On Tuesday, 9th October 2018, this study report will be launched by Auckland Resettled Community Coalition (ARCC) in collaboration with Auckland Regional Migrant Services (ARMS) and NZ Human Rights Commission and The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust at the Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mount Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland 1042, 5:00pm to 7:00pm.

Newcomer communities under humanitarian programmes (quota refugee) face a number of new challenges in their resettlement process in New Zealand. Challenges in employment and housing are two key areas that make the resettlement process hard for these communities. These challenges are not limited to New Zealand, as Australia faces similar issues with newcomer communities on a much larger scale. The recommendations of the findings show a greater need for government in not only funding of NGO’s supporting these communities and the community themselves, but also around policy change.

ARMS’ Chief Executive, Rochana Sheward, believes that this reports findings further emphasise the need for collaboration for better settlement outcomes.
“Benchmarking our resettlement process against countries like Australia provides us with a good opportunity to see where we can grow and collaboration is one area in which we can. Collaboration amongst the resettled communities, NGO’s and government helps ensure we hear the voices of this community and can take action to address issues they face collectively” she added.
The event will share findings from the report and responses from key speakers. Invited to the event include Community leaders, Representatives from NGOs, representatives from government departments, parliamentarians and resettlement sector.

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