Refugee support groups have criticised the move, pointing out the home affairs department’s border security focus

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Peter Dutton and the home affairs department have regained responsibility for refugee settlement services and migrant adult education.

The administrative changes were made on Wednesday, accompanying the swearing-in of ministers appointed by Scott Morrison following his post-election reshuffle.

Refugee support groups have criticised the move, citing the home affairs department’s border security focus, but the former immigration department deputy director Abul Rizvi has argued it is better placed to manage settlement services.

The functions are currently performed by the social services and education departments, after they were moved by the Abbott government out of the immigration portfolio.

The chief executive of the Refugee Council of Australia, Paul Power, said home affairs was “focused on managing the movement of people and goods across the border, with a mentality based around perceived threats rather than opportunities”.

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“There would need to be a very big change of culture for them to manage post arrival support programs,” he said, citing a “massive loss of leadership” in recent years due to immigration taking on customs and border control functions, then becoming the home affairs super-department.

“In 2013 there was some concern about the move to social services, but in hindsight the common view is the refugee and migrant settlement services were better placed because of the change of culture that happened from 2013.”

The director of the Migrant Workers Centre, Matt Kunkel, said the system was “already stacked against migrants”.

“Moving support services for migrants into a national security portfolio makes it even more clear that this government seeks to make it even more difficult for migrants to fully participate in our society,” he said.

The director of Jesuit Refugee Service, Carolina Gottardo, said refugee support services were “working well” and it did not matter which department administered them provided they were properly resourced.

Gottardo warned the government not to make further cuts to refugee programs, citing recent cuts to income support for asylum seekers.

Rizvi told Guardian Australia refugees and people on humanitarian visas “get lost in a bigger department who have very little understanding of the clients”.

“As immigration (or home affairs now) selects the offshore humanitarian entrants, the department is better placed to manage the services they are delivered from first arrival until the people have become more accustomed to life in Australia,” he said.

“Transferring responsibility for successful settlement to a number of other departments risks peoples’ needs falling between the cracks.”

Rizvi suggested the change might give Dutton “more balanced advice rather than advice that looks at immigration almost solely through a law enforcement prism”, encouraging him to “go back to viewing citizenship as a means of promoting social cohesion rather than division”.

Rizvi argued there would also be merit in transferring responsibility for employment services for refugees and people on humanitarian visas to the home affairs department.

In other administrative changes, the responsibility for whole-of-government service delivery will move from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to Services Australia, the renamed human services department.

Population policy will move from the infrastructure portfolio to the Treasury.