DIBP Seeking Public Opinion for Migration Programme of 2015-2016

It has been announced by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) on the 14^th of October of this year that the government of Australia is seeking the view of the public in preparation for the 2015 to 2016 Australian Migration Programme.

There are 2 components that can be found on Australia’s migration programme:

• The Humanitarian Component – This one is for refugees and other individuals who are in need of humanitarian assistance.
• The Migration Component – This consists of skill stream migrants, the family stream migrants, and the special eligibility migrants.

The government reviews a range of factors every year to take into consideration for migration levels to be set for the following year. The planning level made last year for the Migration Programme for the period of 2014-2015 was set at one hundred ninety thousand places. The Humanitarian Programme was set to thirteen thousand seven hundred fifty places.

According to the announcement, the Australian public’s views regarding the optimal composition and size of the permanent migration program has a very crucial role when it comes to the process of setting levels of migration.

In order for the DIBP to collect the views of the public for the Immigration Programme period of 2015-2016, a discussion paper was introduced to provide a wide starting point for considering what the best settings are going to be for next year’s levels of migration. It was also stated in the announcement that the discussion paper canvasses both the social and economic factors which are important in taking into account the programme’s settings.

A link is provided at the end of the discussion paper leading to a short survey which aims to seek for the views of the Australian public regarding the migration programme’s optimal size and composition. The DIBP ensures that all input gathered from participants are going to be taken into extreme confidentiality.

Anybody who is interested in the 2015-2015 migration programme of Australia can volunteer to having their views included by simply reading the discussion paper and then completing the survey. Deadline of submission is on the 5^th of December of this year.