Refugees to get off the dole queue and back into skilled work under new government plan
SKILLED refugees working as taxi drivers or cleaners or simply on the dole will be helped back into their specialist fields under a new government plan.
National
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THE federal government is drafting a plan to get degree-qualified refugees off the dole queue and back working in their area of speciality.
News Corp Australia can reveal the scheme would involve an element of VET-FEE help for refugees to do bridging courses or exams related to having their degrees recognised in Australia and also paid internship programs where they could build experience in their field of expertise prior to being approved.
The aim is to prevent refugees that have come to Australia through the humanitarian intake and have been doctors, engineers, biologists, surveyors or dentists in their country of origin from winding up driving taxis or joining the dole queue to make ends meet.
Currently it is extremely costly and almost unattainable for the majority of refugees who arrive in Australia with a skilled profession to requalify to Australian standards.
Bridging courses often cost more than $20,000 and even in cases where a bridging course is not needed foreigners have to take multiple exams which cost on average at least $2000 per test.
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They then still have to do work on the job, often for free, to familiarise themselves with the Australian system, all while trying to make ends meet financially for their family and settle into a new country.
The federal government wants to make it easier for refugees and also see them get paid while they retrain rather than draining the taxpayer-funded Centrelink purse.
Assistant Minister for Settlement Services David Gillespie is crafting the plan with business and settlement groups engaged to help.
Chair of the government’s Settlement Services Advisory Council, Paris Aristotle, and Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox are behind the plan. A cabinet submission is expected by the end of this year with the new scheme to be legislated and in place as early as next year.
The scheme could not only help refugees but also help to ease pressures for Australian families trying to get an appointment with specialists or access to certain professions as more highly qualified professionals come on board.
“I want to harness their skills and professional ability for the benefit of not just (refugees) and their families but also for the economy of Australia and improving Australian lives in general,” Dr Gillespie told News Corp Australia.
“The suite of measures we’re looking at doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel but just gives these people a fair crack of recognition of prior training which they currently don’t have now.”
Mr Aristotle said the scheme was about giving refugees a hand up, rather than a hand out and insisted it would not lower the standards required for people to work in skilled professions.
“These people often end up having to take whatever job they can get because their families have pressing needs and the sentiment from these humanitarian refugees is they are so grateful to have a safehaven in Australia, they want to be able to give back in the most meaningful way,” Mr Aristotle said.
“I think the minister’s plans are very positive and could yield terrific benefits for not just refugees but also the wider Australian community.”
Mr Willox said the scheme needed to get underway sooner rather than later to help fill some of the skill gaps facing Australian businesses. He was supportive of a way to have refugees paid for internships.
“There is an enormous amount of wasted talent that Australia misses out on across a range of skills and industries because we don’t give skilled refugees and migrants enough opportunities to transfer their real abilities to help the Australian economy,” he said.
Close to a third of all humanitarian entrants to Australia (31.2 per cent) have a post-school qualification — certificate/diploma/Bachelor degree or higher.
Yet a longitudinal study published by the Department of Social Services found in 2013-14 of those refugees who were working, 41 per cent were in a low skill occupation (machinery operators, drivers and labourers); 28 per cent were in a medium skill occupation (community and personal service workers, clerical and administrative workers or sales); and 27 per cent were in a high skill occupation (managers, professionals, technicians and trades workers).
Of refugees who do find work, many are not employed in their industry of choice.
CASE STUDIES
SYDNEY
SYRIAN refugees George Albaba, 53, and his wife Alissar Alasmar, 49, are both highly qualified lawyers.
Mr Albaba worked in the legal fraternity in Damascus for 26-years, before fleeing the country for Australia in 2016 when Islamic State continued to make their lives a living hell.
Now Mr Albaba and his family, which include kids Hadi, 12, Huda, 10, Jude, 9, and Nicholas, 2.5, are so grateful to have safehaven in Australia.
They are happy with their life in Bankstown and to be free of the terrors of war.
But Mr Albaba has had to take up a job as a limousine driver to make ends meet.
Ms Alasmar, who also worked as a lawyer for 15-years in Syria, is at home with her youngest child as she has been unable to find part-time work.
They are examples of the broken system that is not harnessing the skills of refugees who want to call Australia home.
Mr Albaba said in order to retrain as a lawyer he would need to return to full-time university as his qualification is not recognised here, which is not an option with a young family.
“We would love to get a job even just connected to the legal field, even in admin there because we have the skills and knowledge,” Ms Alasmar said.
“It’s very hard though as we still need to prove our training and we don’t want to be on Centrelink — we want to contribute.”
ADELAIDE
HASAN Al-Bazzaz and his wife Hiba Nabeel Dawood Kharrufa were young pharmacists in Iraq with a bright future ahead of them before Islamic State tore their lives apart.
The couple, both aged 29, spent years at university training in their field of choice and had finally landed jobs in their hometown of Mosul before having to flee to the safety of Jordan in 2014 when the war came to their town.
In January this year the pair finally got the opportunity to resettle in Australia and were hopeful of the new life they could begin.
But it hasn’t been easy with their qualification from the University of Mosul not fully recognised according to Mr Al-Bazzaz.
“We have to apply for eligibility assessment, which is $1200 per person and then after that we have to do an exam which costs about $2000 per trial per person,” Mr Al-Bazzaz said.
“We are on benefits and so we just don’t have that money.”
Mr Al-Bazzaz said it was a catch-22 because he and his wife had both had been applying for any kind of work to be able to earn an income and save for their exam fees but because they only had experience in the field of pharmacy they were being rejected.
“I don’t have a reference or job experience in any other field so it is like a closed circle,” he said.
“I don’t know how we’re going to manage to pay for the exam fees and I really wish there was more help so I could work again as a pharmacist.”
MELBOURNE
MUZAHIM Kobat, 41, is a qualified dentist with a masters in orthodontics who is working as a shelf stacker at Chemist Warehouse to make ends meet.
The Iraqi refugee, who fled Mosul when Islamic State invaded, worked for 15-years as a dentist in his home country.
He said in order to be accepted into the dental fraternity of Australia it would require him to do a bridging course costing close to $11,000 and several exams amounting to close to $5000.
“I feel I lost everything when I came to Australia and I would really like to return to work as a dentist but there is no way I can afford that cost,” Mr Kobat said.
“I am working so I can earn money and contribute but it is not in the field I am trained in. I wish there was more help.”
The Herald Sun also spoke to a doctor from Iraq who is working as a childcare educator because he cannot afford to do the exams and courses required to have his medical qualifications recognised.
The refugee had been a GP for 24-years in Iraq, where medical training is based on the British system, but was forced to take a job in the childcare sector to make ends meet for his young family.
The doctor did not want to be named because he feared he would lose his job for speaking out.
BRISBANE
MAHER Wahbe, 29, is a qualified dentist from Syria.
He and his wife Janet, also 29, and their baby Nour, 18 months, are so grateful to have a new life in Australia.
Maher and his wife were working in Iraq when Islamic State gained a foothold and “stayed inside for 10 months” out of fear, simply waiting for a visa to Australia.
Mr Wahbe said his university degree has been recognised but he still has to sit two tests, costing in excess of $6000 in order to become a practising dentist in Australia.
“I’m applying for work as a teacher’s assistant as anything I can do to save up money to be able to work in my field,” Mr Wahbe said.
“But I have no idea how long that will take and I do wish it was an easier process because I have a wife and a baby.
“My whole plan and my whole future depends on getting my qualifications recognised so I can work and give back.”
Originally published as Refugees to get off the dole queue and back into skilled work under new government plan
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