Each year, the Refugee Council invites people from across Australia to participate in its national consultations on the future of Australia's refugee and humanitarian program. These consultations inform RCOA's annual submission to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship on issues the Australian Government should consider in planning the coming year's refugee program. This latest submission...

Many new Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) arrivals are living in poverty as they try to repay the cost of their travel to Australia, according to this report. Many SHP proposers were forced to arrange loans to cover travel costs through informal networks, leaving the new arrivals to begin repaying the loans as soon as they...

After months of community consultations and refining of recommendations, RCOA has released its submission to the Australian Government on the 2008-09 Refugee and Humanitarian Program. The submission canvasses many issues, including the size and composition of the humanitarian intake, family reunion for refugees, employment issues, housing, language services, international cooperation and Australian support for UNHCR.