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Removal of settlement service accessbility constraints – is it financially viable?

SydWest Multicultural Services welcomes the Government’s decision to remove the 5-year eligibility criteria for migrants and refugees to access settlement services.

We also welcome the ease of cost-of-living pressures and the $4bn injection to fully fund frontline workers’ wages for the community sector, who play an integral role supporting some of the most vulnerable and marginalised members of our communities.


There is a mixed response of disappointment and concern about the lack of funding adjustment in the 2023 Federal Budget to facilitate the expected increase in service up-take.


SydWest, one of the NSW Settlement Partnership Consortium members that has been supporting migrants and refugees through its Settlement Engagement and Transition Support (SETS) program in the Outer West of Sydney, has been one of the partners on the receiving end of funding cuts, no provision for indexation, increased operational costs that may potentially paralyse and threaten the quality of its services, if these substantial issues are not addressed.

Read the full press release here.