Federal Budget 2022

Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network Australia welcomes funding for young women in leadership and additional visas for Afghan refugees

The Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network Australia (MYAN) has welcomed the investment in mental health services and leadership opportunities for young women as well as the 16,500 additional places for refugees from Afghanistan in this year’s federal budget.

MYAN particularly welcomes investments in:

$9.2 million in 2022-23 was announced to extend existing Youth Transition Support services for 12 months to 30 June 2023, to continue the provision of services to young humanitarian entrants and vulnerable migrants to increase engagement in education and community sport and assist in transition to employment.
Mental health: $17.8 million over 2 years from 2022-23 to help deliver dedicated evidence-based mental health support to CALD communities in Australia.
Women’s leadership: $9.4 million over 5 years from 2021-22 to bring women into board positions and fund the Future Women’s Jobs Academy.
Refugees from Afghanistan: $665.9 million over 4 years from 2022-23 for an additional 16,500 humanitarian places for Afghan nationals across the 4 years from 2022-23, to address the anticipated need for places.
Migrant women’s safety: $20.3 million in funding to provide direct support to women on temporary visas experiencing violence.

Chair of MYAN, Carmel Guerra OAM, who is also on the Federal Government’s Advisory Group on Australia’s resettlement of Afghan nationals said she was particularly pleased with the announcement of 16,500 additional places for refugees from Afghanistan.

“The 16,500 additional refugee places over four years highlights the government’s commitment to refugees from Afghanistan. We’re pleased that the government has listened to the concerns of the Afghan diaspora and other community members, it’s very good news for the community,” Ms Guerra said.

MYAN National Manager Rana Ebrahimi said the announcement of funding for young women in leadership was particularly welcomed.

“We are pleased to see the announcement of funding for young women in leadership, which has consistently been a critically underfunded area in recent years,” Ms Ebrahimi said.

“We have seen particularly promising results from its Seat at the Table program – a 10-month Leadership Immersion Pilot Program for refugee and migrant women delivered by CMY in Victoria and MYAN is hoping to expand it nationally.

“With this new funding announcement and commitment from the government to young women in leadership we are encouraged that more of this work can be done to address the under-representation of young women from refugee and migrant backgrounds in leadership roles.”

While MYAN welcomes these announcements, it is concerned that overall, the budget fails to acknowledge young people and deliver on specific measures that support them.

“This year’s budget was an opportunity for the government to really step up and support young people, particularly after a tumultuous couple of years due to the pandemic.

Young people were impacted by upheavals in their education, training and employment opportunities and disruption to social connections, and COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing disadvantage faced by young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds across all aspects of their lives. We’re disappointed that the budget fails to have a targeted recovery plan specifically for young people.

“Targeted investment in young people is so critical for Australia’s current and future prosperity – and we feel this year’s budget has been a missed opportunity.

“We look forward to working with our elected representatives over the next few months to help secure a future for young people that they can feel hopeful and confident in.”

Media Contact:

Jackie Hanafie, Media Adviser – 0493 393 416

MYAN Australia contacts:

Rana Ebrahimi, National Manager – 0498 437 380

Carmel Guerra OAM, Chair – (03) 9340 3700