This exploratory study investigates the challenges newly arrived African refugees in Australia face and how they perceive local government initiatives and support. The Report is divided into six sections. The first section contextualises the issues. The second section outlines the methodology employed. Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 present and discuss the findings from the interviews conducted with African refugees and people who are employed to facilitate the settlement of African (and other) refugees. Initially this study was going to focus solely on African Muslim refugees and local government programs on offer for this group, however it became apparent that there were no local government initiatives that catered specifically for this grouping so the focus was extended to cover programs for African refugees and refugees in general.

Over the last decade between 10,000 and 13,000 people have entered Australia annually through the Refugee and Humanitarian Program – RHP (DIBP, 2011). Australia's Humanitarian Program aims to provide options for refugees who have been forced to leave their homes due to armed conflict, persecution and human rights abuses. For the 2014-15 financial year, the allocation for Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program was 13,750 places. More recently, as a response to the ongoing Syrian civil war, the Australian Government announced that it will make an extra 12,000 humanitarian places available for people displaced by the conflict in Syria and Iraq