Regional refugee settlement support requirements: measure for the meaningful assessment of service need

Any discussion and/or debate regarding regional settlement options for refugee communities is timely given a recent Australian Government initiative to further target rural and regional areas for migrant and humanitarian entrant resettlement, with the potential expansion of such schemes in the near future. Given that settlement service provision in urban areas is not fully developed, with gaps in most areas including employment, housing, education, health and social support, it is likely that such needs will be even greater in regional areas where primary service gaps already exist. It is also the right of the individual to choose where they want to live, and opportunities for informed decision making in this regard must be considered nonnegotiable.