1. www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au

2. “ The stories of Asylum seekers are, after all, the stories of us all-
parents saving their children, individuals seeking freedom and dignity
and the power of the will to survive” (Acting from the Heart, 2007, p.1)
www.proprofs.com

3.  Asylum seekers are people who flee their country of origin and are unable
to return due to a well founded fear of torture and/or persecution.
 Refugee is the term given to asylum seekers after they have had their
claims successfully assessed and have undergone a series of checks such
as Health, Security and Character checks before going on to await
resettlement. Once resettled a person is no longer a refugee.standuncc.wordpress.com

4.  Resettlement is a voluntary scheme coordinated by the United Nations
refugee agency (UNHCR).
 Although there are 145 signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention, only
24 participate in UNHCR’s resettlement programs and accept quotas of
refugees on an annual basis.
 Australia has been involved in the UNHCR resettlement program since
1977.
 Refugees do not have a right to be resettled and states are not legally
obligated under the 1951 Refugee Convention or any other international
instrument to accept refugees for resettlement.
 Less than one per cent of the world’s refugees may be resettled in any
given year (aph.gov.au).

5. Who is UNHCR, and what do they do?
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
was established in 1951 under the Convention and Protocol for
refugees.
UNHCR is a not-for-profit organisation that provides and co-
ordinates international relief for refugees and displaced people,
offering them protection and assistance during every stage of
their ordeals, some include:
 Refugee registration, assistance and advice on asylum
applications.
 Providing emergency shelter, food, water and medical care.
 Striving to improve refugees quality of life and future
opportunities.
 Providing assistance with transport, documentation and
essential items.
 Providing ongoing support and education after resettlement.
Only 3% of UNHCR’s budget comes from the UN. The remaining
97% must come from voluntary contributions from
governments, corporations, and individual donors.

6. Australia’s annual quota for refugee resettlement is 20000 a year, of which
12000 places are for people referred by UNHCR and 8000 are for the special
humanitarian program and onshore applicants.
www.abc.net.au

8. Myth Fact
There is an orderly
queue in the
resettlement process
Less than 0.5% of the world’s refugees have access to anything like a
queue. Research on the refugee experience highlights violence,
marginalisation and unpredictability, not an orderly queue and a known
future.
UNHCR resettlement
programs are adequate
to cope with demand
Only around 1% of the world’s refugees are resettled each year. There
are only 24 signatory nations to UNHCR resettlement programs, and if all
the world’s refugees were to form a queue it would take between 120
and 200 years to resettle them at the current rate.
Resettlement means the
UN can decide who lives
in Australia
The ultimate decision to grant any visa to Australia rests with the
Department of Immigration.
Australia does its fair
share to help resettle
the world’s refugees
Australia does consistently rank 3rd in the world for intake of refugees
for resettlement. However, this figure includes the number of refugees
already within Australia (having arrived by boat or air) who are then
resettled here.
IMA asylum seekers
take up places of
refugees from overseas
The number of convention (overseas) refugees resettled in Australia is
not affected by IMAs. However, the government has chosen to link the
number of visas granted to refugees within Australia to the number of
SHP visas available to family members of refugees or persons persecuted
and still located within their home countries.

9.  When refugees arrive in Australia for resettlement
they can immediately access income support
payments just like any other permanent Australian
resident, but they do not receive higher social
security benefits.
 Humanitarian Settlement Services (HSS) program
provides early practical support, including help
finding accommodation, initial orientation and
basic household goods packages. HSS clients
generally finish the program in 6-12 months.
 Additional services focus on building self-reliance,
developing English language skills and using
mainstream services.

10.  A literature review by the Refugee Council of Australia (2010) concluded
that while there may be short-term costs as refugees are resettled and
adjust to their new surroundings, after successful integration they make
permanent cultural, social and economic contributions. Major findings
include:
 Humanitarian entrants are often entrepreneurial as they establish
themselves in a new environment – in the year 2000, five of Australia’s
eight billionaires were people whose families had originally come to the
country as refugees.
 Their impact has been positive in regional and rural Australia through
providing labour and stimulating economic growth and service delivery.
 Available sources point to above average rates of success in education
and employment for children of Humanitarian entrants.
 Informal volunteering plays an important role in building social capital,
and volunteers from ethnic communities provide the greater part of their
services to benefit society as a whole rather than their own ethnic group.

11.  Many dynamic, industrious and
intelligent people were once
refugees, including …

12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mika
http://en.wi
kipedia.org/
wiki/Karl_M
arx
http://indervilla.com/bob-
marley-wallpapers
http://en.
wikipedia.
org/wiki/S
igmund_Fr
eud
http://farm7.staticflickr.com
http://en.wikip
edia.org/wiki/V
ictor_Hugo
http://www.n
tnews.com.au
/images/uplo
adedfiles/edit
orial/pictures
/2009/09/22
/Dr-Karl2.jpg
Albert Einstein – fled Nazi Germany
Bob Marley – fled Jamaica after
being shot during political violence
Karl Marx – German refugee
Mika – fled from Beirut, Lebanon
Sigmund Freud – fled Nazism in Austria
Victor Hugo – the author of Les Misérables
was forced to flee France several times
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki – fled with his
Polish family to Australia at two

13.  Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, 2012, Asylum
Seekers and Refugees: Myths, Facts and Solutions,
West Melbourne
 Department of Immigration, 2012, Fact Sheet 66:
Humanitarian Settlement Services Program, ACT
 Elibritt Karlsen, 2011, Refugee resettlement to
Australia: what are the facts? , ACT
 Refugee Council of Australia, 2010, Economic, civic
and social contributions of refugees and
Humanitarian entrants – literature review, ACT

14. http://www.everydayhero.com.au/ashli_grimmett