24th May 2023, 11:33 AM – Representatives Infrastructure Australia Amendment (Independent Review) Bill 2023 - Consideration in Detail - Migration & refugee settlement; cultural & linguistic diversity

The majority voted in favour of disagreeing with amendments introduced by Fowler MP Dai Le (Independent), which means they failed.

What do these amendments do?

Ms Le explained that:

Overall, my amendments seek to ensure that the government think about the plan for infrastructure in communities where there are large influxes of migrants and refugees, such as in electorates like Fowler. We have had over 10,000 refugees settle in our city in recent years with no infrastructure planning in place to deal with the growth of the community.

Amendments (1) and (2) refer to the auditing responsibilities of Infrastructure Australia to ensure that the decisions they make will have particular regard to migrant and refugee settlement policies. I don't understand why communities like ours, who have had to shoulder the challenges of settling refugees and migrants, miss out on resources that would enable these newly arrived migrants or refugees to one day be able to stand on their own two feet and contribute back to this society. This amendment may be specific, but migrant and refugee policy ultimately affects Australians currently living here. We are about to bring in 1.5 million people, and therefore I would say that infrastructure is critical to sustaining the influx and the settlement of migrants.

Amendment (7) refers to the particular clause in which Infrastructure Australia allows for affirmative action in relation to the appointment of women in their commission and advisory board. I really urge the government to also consider this point with relation to the appointment of people of culturally and linguistically diverse lived experience who have experience of infrastructure.

Amendment text

(1) Schedule 1, item 4, page 4 (line 3), after "growth", insert ", with particular regard for migration and refugee settlement policy".

(2) Schedule 1, item 4, page 4 (line 4), after "social", insert ", cultural".

(7) Schedule 1, item 22, page 13 (line 4), after "women", insert ", and people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds,".