RESEARCH PAPER SERIES, 2016–17              Updated 17 January 2017

Australia’s Humanitarian Program: a quick guide to the statistics since 1947

Janet Phillips

Social Policy Section

Australia has a long history of accepting refugees and other humanitarian entrants from all parts of the globe, including those in need of assistance during and immediately after World War II.  Since 1945, when the first federal immigration portfolio was established to administer Australia’s post-war migration program, over 800,000 refugees and other humanitarian entrants have settled in Australia. However, it was not until Indochinese asylum seekers, fleeing conflict during the Vietnam War, began to arrive by boat that the Australian Government developed a specific refugee policy. Australia’s first planned Humanitarian Program designed to deal with refugee and humanitarian issues, including the determination of onshore protection claims, was subsequently established by the Fraser Government in 1977.

Since then, permanent migrants have entered Australia via one of two distinct programs—the Migration Program for skilled and family migrants or the Humanitarian Program for refugees and those in refugee-like situations. The Australian Government allocates places, or quotas, each year for people wanting to migrate permanently to Australia under these two programs. Annual statistics on Migration and Humanitarian program ‘outcomes’ (visa grants) published by the Immigration Department since the 1970s, provide the most accurate source of data on the number of people granted visas to migrate to Australia.

It is important to understand that there are two main components of Australia’s Humanitarian Program—offshore and onshore:

•        the offshore component of the Humanitarian Program offers resettlement in Australia to refugees and humanitarian entrants from overseas under two categories. Most offshore refugees are referred to Australia by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and are formally accepted and resettled under the ‘Refugee’ category. These entrants have been assessed and accepted as refugees under Refugee Convention criteria. The Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) also offers resettlement to those offshore who, while not necessarily being refugees, face human rights abuses in their home country and have a connection with Australia. Applicants must have a sponsor (e.g. a permanent resident, Australian citizen or organisation). Applications from family members of people already in Australia are referred to as ‘split family’.

•        the onshore component of the Humanitarian Program offers protection to people who have arrived in Australia, lodged an asylum claim, and been granted protection. Onshore humanitarian entrants may have been found to be refugees under Refugee Convention criteria or may otherwise engage Australia’s protection obligations under other human rights conventions.

This quick guide includes humanitarian entrant estimates between 1947–48 and 1976–77 (provided to the Parliamentary Library by the Department of Immigration in 2001) and Humanitarian Program visa grants since 1977–78. For more detail specifically on Australia’s Migration Program see Migration to Australia: a quick guide to the statistics.

Table 1: Refugee and humanitarian entrants by category since 1947–48

Year

Assisted refugees* (estimated)

Unassisted refugees* (estimated)

Total

1947–48 to 1974–75

264 053**

33 000

297 053

Year

Refugee (offshore)

Special Humanitarian (offshore)

Special Assistance Category (offshore)

Protection Visas (onshore)

Safe Haven

Total

Government planning figures

1975–76

4374

4374

1976–77

8124

8124

1977–78

9326

9326

1978–79

12 750

700

13 450

1979–80

17 677

2277

19 954

1980–81

20 795

1675

75

22 545

1981–82

20 195

1722

21 917

1982–83

16 193

861

17 054

1983–84

12 426

3059

15 485

1984–85

9520

4687

14 207

1985–86

7832

3868

11 700

1986–87

5857

5434

11 291

1987–88

5514

5878

11 392

1988–89

3574

7735

11 309

1989–90

1238

10 451

726

12 415

1990–91

1497

8287

1500

11 284

1991–92

2424

4360

2363

2862

12 009

1992–93

2893

2392

5657

903

11 845

1993–94

4315

2524

5840

1391

14 070

1994–95

3992

3675

5545

1646

14 858

1995–96

4643

3499

6910

1200

16 252

13 000

1996–97

3334

2470

3848

2250

11 902

12 000

1997–98

4010

4636

1821

1588

12 055

12 000

1998–99

3988

4348

1190

1830

11 356

12 000

1999–00

3802

3051

649

2458

5900***

15 860

12 000

2000–01

3997

3116

879

5741

13 733

12 000

2001–02

4160

4258

40

3891

12 349

12 000

2002–03

4376

7280

869

12 525

12 000

2003–04

4134

7669

2020

13 823

12 000

2004–05

5511

6585

1082

13 178

13 000

2005–06

6022

6736

1386

14 144

13 000

2006–07

6003

5313

1701

13 017

13 000

2007–08

6004

5110

1900

13 014

13 000

2008–09

6499

4586

2417

5***

13 507

13 500

2009–10

6003

3233

4534

13 770

13 750

2010–11

5984

2966

4828

13 778

13 750

2011–12

5988

714

7043

13 745

13 750

(revised from 14 750 October 2011)

2012–13

11 985

503

7510

19 998

20 000

(revised from 13 750  August 2012)

2013–14

6499

4507

2753

13 759

13 750

(revised from 20 000 September 2013)

2014–15

6002

5007

2747

13 756

13 750

2015–16

8284

7268

2003

17 555

13 750

Sources:

•        1947–48 to 1976–77: data provided by the Department of Immigration to the Parliamentary Library in 2001.

•        1977–78 onwards: data sourced from ministerial press releases (various years); and Immigration Department (there have been various name changes over the years) annual reports and Australia’s refugee and humanitarian program, (fact sheet 60—various years). Data since 2010–11 has been updated from the latest version of Australia’s refugee and humanitarian program fact sheet. For more historical background and statistics see E Karlsen and J Phillips, Seeking asylum: Australia’s humanitarian program, Background note, Parliamentary Library, 2011.

•        2015–16: the 2015–16 figures include visa granted to date as part of the Government’s commitment to provide an additional 12,000 places for people displaced by conflict in Syria and Iraq. Source: DIBP, Australia’s offshore humanitarian programme 2015–16 (at a glance), 2016.

Notes:

*The majority of these refugees and displaced persons were ‘Assisted’, that is provided with passage and other Government support. A small number were permitted to enter and settle as unassisted migrants.

**Includes an estimated 170,700 displaced persons (DPs) who arrived between 1947 and 1954. Displaced persons included those who had been forced to leave their country of origin, but who were not necessarily considered to be refugees, such as prisoners of war or slave labourers. 

***Includes 5900 Safe Haven visas, comprising 4000 grants to Kosovars offshore and 1900 grants to East Timorese onshore; and another 5 Safe Haven visas issued in 2008–09 to people living in IOM facilities in Indonesia for five years or more (Department of Immigration, Annual report 2008–09).

The increase in humanitarian entrants in the late 1980s and early 1990s reflected a Government decision to allow Chinese nationals affected by the Tiananmen Square incident to remain in Australia.

The increase in refugee entrants in 2012–13 was due to a Government decision to increase the Humanitarian Program to 20,000 in that program year.

The increase in the SHP category in 2002–03 was partly due to the cessation of the Special Assistance Category in 2001 which was then absorbed into the Special Humanitarian Program.

Glossary:

Refugee = an individual found to be a refugee under the UN 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) = introduced in 1981 for people who have suffered discrimination or other violations of their human rights, but are not refugees under the terms of the Refugees Convention.

Special Assistance Category (SAC) = introduced in 1992 to assist groups in vulnerable positions overseas with close links to Australia that did not fit into traditional humanitarian categories (closed in 2001 and now included in the SHP category).

Safe Haven = a temporary Humanitarian Stay (subclass 449) visa created in 1999 to offer safe haven in a humanitarian crisis (most notably for Kosovars and East Timorese).

Table 2: Migration and humanitarian program visa grants compared since 1984–85

Year

Migration Program

Humanitarian Program

Family

Child

Skill

Special Eligibility

Total

Humanitarian as percentage of total migration and humanitarian intake

1984–85

44 200

10 100

200

54 500

14 207

20.7

1985–86

63 400

16 200

400

80 000

11 700

12.8

1986–87

72 600

28 500

600

101 700

11 291

10.0

1987–88

79 500

42 000

600

122 100

11 392

8.5

1988–89

72 700

51 200

800

124 700

11 309

8.3

1989–90

66 600

52 700

900

120 200

12 415

9.4

1990–91

61 300

49 800

1 200

112 200

11 284

9.1

1991–92

55 900

41 400

1 700

98 900

12 009

10.8

1992–93

43 500

21 300

1 400

67 900

11 845

14.9

1993–94

43 200

18 300

1 300

62 800

14 070

18.3

1994–95

44 500

30 400

1 600

76 500

14 858

16.3

1995–96

56 700

24 100

1 700

82 500

16 252

16.5

1996–97

44 580

27 550

1 730

73 900

11 902

13.9

1997–98

31 310

34 670

1 110

67 100

12 055

15.2

1998–99

32 040

35 000

890

67 900

11 356

14.3

1999–00

32 000

35 330

2 850

70 200

15 860

18.4

2000–01

33 470

44 730

2 420

80 610

13 733

14.6

2001–02

38 090

53 520

1 480

93 080

12 349

11.7

2002–03

40 790

66 050

1 230

108 070

12 525

10.4

2003–04

42 230

71 240

890

114 360

13 823

10.8

2004–05

41 740

77 880

450

120 060

13 178

9.9

2005–06

45 290

97 340

310

142 930

14 144

9.0

2006–07

50 080

97 920

200

148 200

13 017

8.1

2007–08

49 870

108 540

220

158 630

13 014

7.6

2008–09

56 366

114 777

175

171 318

13 507

7.3

2009–10

60 254

107 868

501

168 623

13 770

7.5

2010–11

54 543

113 725

417

168 685

13 778

7.6

2011–12

58 604

125 755

639

184 998

13 745

6.9

2012–13

60 185

128 973

842

190 000

19 998

9.5

2013–14

61 112

128 550

338

190 000

13 759

6.8

2014–15

61 085

127 774

238

189 097

13 756

6.8

2015–16

57 400

*3512

128 550

308

189 770

17 555

8.5

Sources: Immigration Department, Migration Program reports, annual reports and Australia’s refugee and humanitarian program, fact sheet 60 (various years). For further historical background and migration statistics see J Phillips, M Klapdor and J Simon-Davies, Migration to Australia since Federation: a guide to the statistics, Background note, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 27 August 2010; and J Phillips and J Simon-Davies, Migration to Australia: a quick guide to the statistics, Quick guide, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 4 September 2015.

Notes: *Child places are now identified separately from the Family stream in response to recent reforms to the inter-country adoption processes. See DIBP, Annual report 2015–16, p. 61.

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