Photo credit: SBS
As Australia approaches its one millionth permanent visa through its refugee and humanitarian p[rogram, advocates are calling for celebration over the contribution refugees have made to Australia’s national story.
SBS News reports that the one millionth permanent humanitarian visa issued since the end of World War II could come as early as the end of the year.
Refugee rights organzations say it’s a permanent time to consider how Australia can improve its response to mass global displacement.
Rebecca Eckart, director of policy and research at the Refugee Council of Australia, said the millionth permanent humanitarian visa is expected to be issued imminently. She said, “That means we’ll have had the benefit of over the past 80 years, people who have come through our refugee and humanitarian program arriving in Australia.”
In five years after World War Two, Australia welcomed over 170,000 European refugees.
The Vietnam War also prompted a large-scale response, with 100,000 settlements over 10 years.
Annual intake was expanded to 22,000 in the 1980s, and in the 1990s, a new Special Assistance visa was introduced in response to conflicts in former Yugoslavia, East Timor, Lebanon and Sudan, among others.
The focus then shifted to support for refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, including a special annual intake of 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees from 2015.
Professor Daniel Ghezelbash, director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, said the milestone offers a chance to reflect on how Australia can improve its response to global displacement.
He said, “I really think it’s a cause for celebration and a moment to mark the transformative contributions that refugees and their families have made to our society and our economy over many, many decades now.”
Ghezelbash said Australia’s approach to asylum seekers is a continuing source of concern.
Between 1947 and 2023 most permanent visas – more than 850,000 – were issued to those who applied for protection from outside Australia.
Just over 81,000 were issued to those seeking protection after arriving in Australia.
In 2001, Australia implemented a policy of offshore processing for asylum seekers arriving by boat and the law was amended in 2013 to prevent those arriving by boat from ever gaining permanent visas.
The offshore processing policy has received bipartisan support from 2012 – but Ghezelbash said Australia’s asylum policies have been the subject of widespread international criticism.
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