The Centre for Muslim Wellbeing (CMW) has made a formal submission to the Department of Home Affairs on Australia’s 2025–26 Humanitarian Program
For our communities, humanitarian policy is not an abstract debate. It is about families torn apart by war, young people living in limbo, and communities carrying the weight of displacement and trauma. Nearly half of the world’s displaced people are Muslim, which means decisions made in Canberra are felt directly in the homes, mosques, and schools of our community here in Australia.
What We Said
In our submission, we stressed that Australia’s humanitarian system must move beyond a mindset of scarcity and selectivity. Instead, it must be:
Fair – treating all crises with equal compassion, without double standards.
Family-centred – recognising that reunification is not optional, but a cornerstone of healing and successful settlement.
Responsive – able to act within days, not years, when crises erupt.
Inclusive – embedding the voices and leadership of Muslim and refugee-led organisations in decision-making.
Our Key Recommendations
- Create a National Humanitarian Crisis Response Framework with the power to mobilise across government within 72 hours.
- Introduce a new Emergency Humanitarian Visa with a six-week processing cap.
- Establish a dedicated family reunion stream so families don’t wait up to eight years.
- Expand the refugee intake and community sponsorship pathways, ensuring additionality rather than substitution.
- Fund multicultural and diaspora organisations like CMW to deliver trauma-informed, culturally safe settlement support.
Why It Matters
Humanitarian programs succeed not only when people arrive safely, but when they are able to rebuild their lives with dignity, connection, and hope. For too long, Muslim communities have been excluded from shaping the very systems that affect them most.
Our submission is a call for government to listen, partner, and act — so that Australia’s humanitarian program reflects the values of justice, compassion, and equity we hold as a society.
📄 Read our full submission here
