Federal Member for Mallee Anne Webster is calling on Mallee producers, peak bodies and organisations to make submissions on a new parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s migration system.
The Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Migration, of which Dr Webster is the Deputy Chair, has commenced the Migration, Pathway to Nation Building inquiry to inform a new strategy for Australia’s migration system to ensure it better meets existing challenges and sets a clear direction for the coming decades.

“Australia as a nation has been built on migrants coming to our shores,” Dr Webster said.

“Mallee’s many multicultural communities contribute so much to the electorate through a range of avenues, from social cohesion and diversity to the labour market and the skilled workforce.

“This inquiry seeks to strengthen Australia’s migrant strategy well into the future.”

The inquiry was referred by the Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil late last month, with the committee now interested to receive the views of stakeholders via submissions addressing the inquiry’s terms of reference.

The terms of reference for the inquiry are:

• The role of permanent migration in nation building, cultural diversity, and social cohesion;
• Immigration as a strategic enabler of vibrant economies and socially sustainable communities in our cities and regional hubs;
• Attraction and retention strategies for working migrants to Australia;
• Policy settings to strengthen skilled migrant pathways to permanent residency;
• Strengthening labour market participation and the economic and social contribution of migrants, including family and humanitarian migrants and the partners of working migrants;
• The role of settlement services and vocational training in utilising migrant experiences, knowledge, and opportunities; and
• Other related matters that may assist the inquiry.

Submissions should be provided to the committee by Monday, 13 February 2023.

They can be lodged online via the committee’s website  at www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Migration/MigrationPathway or by emailing migration@aph.gov.au.

Submissions and public hearing transcripts will be published on the committee’s website.

Guidelines on making a submission are available at: www.aph.gov.au/MakeSubmission.

If you have any questions about the inquiry, please contact the committee secretariat on 02 6277 4560 or migration@aph.gov.au.

“I encourage you to make a submission and also indicate any interest in presenting in person,” Dr Webster said.