STATEMENT

Alongside several proposed migration changes, last week the Australian Government was reportedly considering reducing the number of people welcomed through Australia’s humanitarian program, from 20,000 to 13,750 places a year.  

We welcome Prime Minister Albanese’s reassurance that the humanitarian intake will remain at 20,000 places. We also feel compelled to reiterate the importance of protecting Australia’s humanitarian commitments – as resolved unanimously at the ALP National Conference only last month – and the values that underpin these commitments.  

Our proud humanitarian legacy needs protecting. 

Built over generations, Australia has upheld a longstanding commitment to protecting people seeking safety.

Over 70 years ago, Australia ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention. As the sixth nation to do so, we triggered the chain of events that brought the treaty into force worldwide.  

We are founding architects of one of the world’s most important international legal documents. This is not by chance, but because a humanitarian belief system is core to our national identity and our moral conscience.  

At its heart, our Humanitarian Program is a statement of integrity: we believe that people forced to flee persecution and conflict deserve safety and protection, as a matter of decency and fundamental human rights. 

When we commit to meeting our legal and moral responsibility to protect some of the most vulnerable members of society, we say something about what it means to be Australian. We are setting out the values that we will hold ourselves to: compassion, dignity, fairness, and our belief in doing the right thing. 

These moral convictions can safeguard and sustain us as one Australian community. They should guide our leaders’ decisions, anchor our policies in the real world, and provide a vision for Australia that endures beyond the politics of the moment. 

“When we choose to protect people, we are making a commitment that cannot be abandoned for political expediency,” shares Molly Jackson, Head of Policy, Advocacy and Communications at JRS Australia.  

“Welcoming refugees has helped make Australia more vibrant, diverse, and prosperous. While millions of people are forced to flee their homes, we should be proud to be a country that upholds our promise to protect people seeking safety. This is a commitment to ourselves and our shared future, as much as it is to our fellow human beings.” 

The scale of need  

Around the world, people are facing extraordinary levels of forced displacement, with insufficient pathways to find protection. The UNHCR estimates that 2.4 million refugees will need resettlement in the next year. Globally, humanitarian places sit at only 130,00 places for 2027. 

Against this scale, Australia’s commitment of 20,000 places is modest. It is a small proportion of our overall migration quota of 180,000, and yet it provides an extraordinary lifeline for people who are in need.  

As of last year, over 1 million people have found protection in Australia.  

“It is a source of great pride that our nation is a place of sanctuary and opportunity,” shares Fr Brett O’Neill, S.J., Country Director of JRS Australia.  

“We should carry this legacy forward with courage and confidence. To be a place where people can live, work, learn, raise their families and build their futures – this is something worth protecting.” 

Dr John Bosco Ngendakurio, JRS Australia’s Head of Operations, echoes this sentiment, saying: “Australia’s Humanitarian Program is a powerful humanitarian act that effectively gives the world’s most vulnerable forcibly displaced people a new life and a durable solution, safe from danger and hopelessness.”  

A “Fair Go” for everyone in Australia 

1 million stories later, and 75 years on, we know that refugees and people seeking asylum bring so much to our communities. People arrive in Australia with gifts, skills, experience, resilience, culture, and an entrepreneurial spirit that enriches our whole community.   

All it takes is for people to be given a fair go. Read Ahmad’s Story, for example. Or Khujesta’s. Or Dindo’s. Or Batoul’s.  

Every person we work alongside carries with them a brave hope for our shared future, and they are an essential part of the Australian story. 

“We are a nation built on migration and multiculturalism,” shares Molly Jackson.  

“Every one of us should be fiercely invested in protecting the rights of people who come to us seeking safety, knowing their experience in Australia holds a mirror to our own integrity as a country that gives people a fair go.” 

This fair go is not a guarantee, it is a commitment that we need to safeguard together.  

An overhaul of our migration system is still being considered by our political leaders, including suggested changes that would remove work rights from people seeking asylum, and restrict their right to appeals.  

We have joined 160 community, charity, faith-based, multicultural and migrant organisations in an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, warning of the devastating human impact of changes like these.   

Forcing vulnerable people into poverty by denying them the right to work does not create a safer Australia; it deliberately undermines the self-reliance, dignity, and fairness that migrant communities have shared with this nation for generations.  

Seeking asylum is a human right. It is one we have committed to protecting. If we fail to uphold this obligation, we risk undermining our reputation and standing as a member of the international community. 

Take Action

Join us to protect Australia’s Humanitarian mission. Let your local MP know that you believe in our Humanitarian Program, and that everyone seeking safety deserves the right to work, a fair hearing, and to be treated with dignity.  

Click here to write to your MP today.