$4000 if they go back

$4000 if they go back...That should help go towards their next boat trip.;

Failed asylum seekers could receive up to $4000 to find jobs

* Phillip Hudson
* From: AAP
* November 10, 2010 12:00AM





The Federal Government will offer a trial program of incentives to encourage asylum seekers to return home / file Source: PerthNow

FAILED asylum seekers could receive up to $4000 worth of help from Australian taxpayers to find a job or start a small business in their own country

In its latest bid to try to clear beds in overcrowded detention centres, the Gillard Government last night said it would spend $5 million a year on "reintegration assistance".

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said individuals would not receive cash.

The money would be paid to the International Organisation for Migration to provide vocational training, job placements or small business start-up support.

Mr Bowen said it was a "modest" way to support asylum seekers who volunteered to return home after their claims were rejected.

"Some asylum seekers will return to a country in which they have not lived for a number of years and may have limited assets or support networks on return," he said.




"In many cases, employment opportunities for returnees may be limited."

The Government hopes the payment, worth up to $4000 a person, will also reduce the chance of a failed asylum seeker returning to Australia by sea if they could return to their country in a sustainable and dignified way.

Britain and other European countries offer similar assistance through the International Organisation for Migration.

It is the first time the Rudd or Gillard governments have offered to pay for failed asylum seekers to return home.

The Howard government offered a three-year "reintegration assistance" package worth $5.8 million in 2002, but Labor's then immigration spokeswoman Julia Gillard said it was not a real solution.

While the scheme will cost $5 million, the Government believes it will save if it can persuade people to leave expensive detention centres and it is cheaper than the cost of a forced return.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the Government had no clear strategy to stop arrivals and was struggling to deal with the "major gridlock" in crowded detention centres.

"This appears to me to be very much an afterthought. It does not amount to a serious returns policy or repatriation strategy," Mr Morrison said.

Last month, Mr Bowen announced plans to free most children and vulnerable families from detention centres and to spend $175 million to build two new detention centres in Western Australia and South Australia and put the transit centre at Broadmeadows on alert for an upgrade.

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http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/failed-refugees-paid-to-find-jobs/story-e6frf7jo-1225950428089