By Casey Neill
A $15 million program is offering TAFE places to 3000 asylum seekers and refugees over the next two years.
For the first time, refugees with temporary protection visas will also be eligible for the State Government’s Asylum Seeker VET Program.
The government currently provides funding for about 300 eligible asylum seekers each year and exempts them from the usual citizenship criteria so they can undertake training.
Under the new project, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) will refer asylum seekers and eligible refugees to do their training at Victorian TAFEs, private training providers and through the Learn Local network.
The ASRC will also provide additional support and professional development to training providers working with asylum seekers and refugees.
Customised language and literacy programs will be offered to participants to improve their reading and writing skills.
An Integrated VET Learning Plan will help them to attain qualifications in the community where they live.
Friends of Refugees spokeswoman Sri Samy said the initiative would assist people in limbo.
“Other states should also follow suit,” she said.
“This will give people seeking asylum and refugees on temporary visas to take part in the work force and lead an independent life rather than relying on charities and handouts to lead their day to day life.”
Ms Samy said that in the past, Dandenong-based Friends of Refugees had found that most funded organisations only assisted people with an English level over four with pre-employment and training.
“However, based on the people that we assist every day we find that over 40 per cent of people seeking asylum have English skills less than level four,” she said.
“Friends of Refugees mainly fills in the service gaps that funded organisations are unable to do, so we have a small scale pre-employment training program for people with limited English.”
On its Facebook page, the ASRC said that for the past five years it had been pioneering the only TAFE program for people seeking asylum in Australia.
“We’ve placed 751 people into TAFE with a 92 per cent success rate,” the post said.
“On the back of this success they (the State Government) are now investing in a state-wide response.”
ASRC said the TAFE places would be in areas such as hospitality and aged care.
“The ASRC will manage 1000 of these places and also take the lead in strengthening the capacity of the Victorian TAFE sector by sharing our ground-breaking model through training and running a help line,” the post said.
“Victoria is the only state where people seeking asylum can access TAFE.
“The challenge to other governments now is to follow Victoria’s lead and recognise that further education is a ticket to a better life and a stronger community.”
Victoria is home to about 11,000 asylum seekers and refugees with temporary protection visas.
Many of these people will soon transition to new visas that require them to work and study so that they can apply for further substantive visas.
Training and Skills Minister Steve Herbert said the training would help recipients to “get a proper job, to reach their ambitions and full potential so they can play a productive role in the Victorian workforce”.
“People come here looking for a fair go – and we’ll do everything in our power to give it to them,” he said.
