Settling refugees in country towns is not the answer to dwindling regional populations unless support services are improved, according to Janet Taylor and Dayane Stanovic. In this report they look at the settlement experiences of two recent refugee groups (Iraqi and Sudanese) in the Victorian towns of Shepparton, Colac and Warrnambool.

The debate about the regional settlement of refugees takes place within a number of important and at times conflicting policy arenas: humanitarian goals and obligations, population strategy and economic development of regional areas. In a paper for the Australian Social Policy Conference 2005, Janet Taylor discusses a recent Brotherhood of St Laurence study to explore...