CatholicCare’s Toowoomba Refugee Migrant Service gets $1.45m boost from federal government to support Yazidi community

A community of nearly 5000 former refugees living in Toowoomba with complex issues and needs has been boosted by a $1.45m government funding package for the city’s main support service.

Celebrating a $1.5m federal government funding package for CatholicCare's TRAMS program are (from left) Hadya Adi, Maysoon Sulaiman, chief executive Kate Venables and Rana Almuhama.

After arriving in Toowoomba from Iraq with no English, former refugee Hadya Adi now has dreams of becoming a teacher and supporting her Yazidi community.

“When I first came here (in 2019) I didn’t know English and there was no one to help me, we didn’t have any translators at school, so I want to become (a teacher) one day and help my community,” the 19-year-old said.

Ms Adi’s burgeoning community of more than 5000 Yazidis in Toowoomba has received a massive boost to support their continued integration, after federal funding was restored to the city’s largest refugee support service.

CatholicCare has revealed its Toowoomba Refugee and Migrant Support (TRAMS) program will receive about $1.45m over the next three years from the federal Settlement, Engagement and Transition Support (SETS).

Celebrating a $1.5m federal government funding package for CatholicCare's TRAMS program are (from left) Nayif Rasho, chief executive Kate Venables, Rana Almuhama, Hadya Adi and Maysoon Sulaiman.

The program, which supports migrants and refugees after the first 12 months of settlement, assists with a variety of integration issues and has become a significant resource for the complex and fast-growing Yazidi population in Toowoomba.

Ms Adi, who works as a trainee at CatholicCare, said she was thrilled to hear about the funding extension.

“I wanted to improve my English and learn new skills, so CatholicCare is a great opportunity for me to learn how to communicate,” she said.

“I’m very thankful for them.”

The good news comes a year after CatholicCare was forced to lay off staff following repeated funding cuts and shortfalls dating back to the Morrison government, with News Corp leading the campaign to have TRAMS financially supported.

Chief executive Kate Venables welcomed the multi-year commitment from federal Labor, saying it would bump the program’s workforce to five to complement a number of staff funded through the Queensland government.

“In terms of TRAMS, it will bring our team up to five, then we’ve got another two workers who are state-funded, who work in employment, all with the same cohort of Yazidis,” she said.

“It means an extra full-time worker and some extra interpreting services when we need it.

“We also have a traineeship program who are doing a Cert I in the Australian workforce.

“We need to be investing in ensuring the current refugees have the access to right services, so we’ll continue to talk about housing and transport.”

Celebrating a $1.5m federal government funding package for CatholicCare's TRAMS program is chief executive Kate Venables and her team.

Ms Venables said the funding was delivered thanks to both internal and external advocacy.

“It’s responding to what we know is the current demand,” she said.

“There’s no question with the change in government, we had a government who was more aware of the impact that was aware of the benefits of migrants and also the drain on services.

“There’s been significance national peak body advocacy (by Settlement Council of Australia) and some of that included being able to put a cost on what was being provided, and what would happen if it was taken away.

“The media support we had, that backing from the community and supportive local community leaders (was critical), including council, Garth (Hamilton MP) wrote a great letter and we had letters from state members too.”