States urged to start asylum training
All Australian governments are being urged to let asylum seekers study at TAFE.
The Victorian Government has put up $15 million in funding for 3,000 people on temporary protection visas to study in areas lacking skilled workers, including hospitality and aged care.
Refugees with temporary residence will also be able to study at TAFE and with private training providers.
Victoria is home to just under half of Australia’s 25,000 asylum seekers.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre CEO Kon Karapanagiotidis says asylum seekers living in Australia have few entitlements.
“Without access to education and training and those pathways, it's almost impossible for people to survive,” he told the ABC.
“They get trapped in a cycle of poverty, homelessness and destitution, so those pathways are life changing and lifesaving.”
Mr Karapanagiotidis said Victoria is currently the only jurisdiction to offer training to asylum seekers.
“People seeking asylum don't want charity, they just want to contribute, work hard and put food on the table,” he said.
“So what I would love to see are simply pathways and a fair go.”
He said the scheme had been successful so far.
“We've placed 751 people into TAFE and of that 92 per cent have successfully completed it,” Mr Karapanagiotidis said.
“That's your highest success rate for any community, Australian citizen or refugee going around.”
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre will help expand the scheme into regional areas.
The new funding expands the number of available training places for asylum seekers from 300 to 3000.
“It's not in anyone's interests for these people to be simply sitting around being unproductive,” Skills Minister Steve Herbert said.
“This will provide them with the opportunity to get proper training, proper skills and play their part in the Victorian workforce.”