The Government has announced the formation of the Advisory Panel to support Afghan nationals in their settlement in Australia to ensure that there are appropriate settlement and integration supports available, including identifying the communities into which the people will settle.
The panel is established with a purpose to play an important role in planning to support the provision of the initial 3,000 places in the Humanitarian Visa Program to Afghan nationals as well as developing community interest towards their welcoming and successfully integration. The panel is expected to operate for 12 months, which may be extended on need basis.
The Hon Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, said, “The Advisory Panel is a group of highly regarded Australian-Afghan community leaders and refugee and settlement experts, chosen for their commitment and expertise in refugee and integration issues…Australia has a proud history of helping those most in need and we are fortunate to have such a wealth of knowledge from across Australia to be working with us to ensure our world class settlement program is delivering to them the comprehensive support they need to get established and settled in Australia as fast as possible.”
