The Ukrainian Council of NSW and displaced Ukrainians living in NSW provided significant input into the Australian Federation of Ukrainians Organisations’ (AFUO) comprehensive response to the Department of Home Affairs consultation about Australia’s Humanitarian Program 2024-2025.

Building upon researched conducted by the UCNSW and displaced Ukrainians living in NSW the AFUO strongly argued the program needs to better respond to resettlement crises, such as that which occurred with Ukrainian displaced people following the full-scale Russian invasion.

The AFUO also said the program can better support current Ukrainian humanitarian entrants by:

• * extending the subclass 786 Temporary Humanitarian Concern visas for displaced Ukrainians for a further 3 years to remove immediate stress
• * developing dedicated pathways for permanent residency for displaced Ukrainians, in consideration of the barriers that many of the Ukrainian cohort face
• * expanding access to other humanitarian programs for Ukrainians
• * expanding relative sponsorship criteria for family visas in humanitarian cases (e.g. siblings, cousins etc)
• * providing accelerated family reunification pathways for split families

The UCNSW thanks Andrew Mencinsky, Vlad Guz, Liza Marian and Nadia Mencinsky for their assistance in preparing the primary and supporting submissions.

Check out the AFUO story here and the full submission here.