Parliament of Australia Media Release

The Joint Standing Committee on Migration today released the Migration, Pathway to Nation Building report, signifying the end of an almost two-year long inquiry on Australia’s migration system by the Committee.

Committee Chair, Maria Vamvakinou MP, said ‘the Committee has conducted a comprehensive inquiry that has looked at virtually every aspect of the migration system with a view to complement the Government’s ongoing reform agenda to improve migration outcomes’. ‘Of central concern’, Ms Vamvakinou continued, ‘the Committee believes that migration policy must once again become a key lever for Australia’s nation building efforts, as it has been in the past’.

The report makes 73 recommendations. ‘Of priority’, Ms Vamvakinou said, ‘the Committee has recommended that a Department of Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs be re-established as a stand-alone department solely focused on delivering a migration system of world-class standard and ensuring that Australia remains a preferred destination for the world’s most talented migrants’.

‘The Committee has also recommended that an independent national research institute for migration policy studies be established to provide migration policy a basis in impartial and scholarly evidence going forward. Such research capacity within government has been sorely missed in recent years and will provide migration policy a solid foundation as we move into the decades to come’.

‘To ensure that new arrivals are fully integrated into Australian society and are empowered to maximise their and their families’ contributions to the nation, the Committee has recommended that settlement services be provided to all classes of migrant, irrespective of visa category, on the basis of need’.

‘As a matter of the utmost importance, the Committee gave detailed consideration to the issues surrounding regional migration. Ensuring that our regional, rural and remote areas share in the benefits that migration affords is vital for the ongoing prosperity of those areas. While the Committee has made 16 recommendations on improving the migration outcomes for Australia’s regions, it also concluded that a further dedicated inquiry on a specific regional migration priority topic was needed’.

The report provides recommendations on a wide array of matter, including, improving the visa application system; attracting and retaining skilled migration; better accounting for the skills and experience of secondary applicants; more effective recognition of migrants’ qualifications; improving outcomes for refugees and their families; and regional migration.

The read the full Migration, Pathway to Nation Building report, visit the Committee’s website.