Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Alex Hawke said this increased, multi-year commitment is a significant one, to meet our obligations and address the ongoing humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. It also follows the initial allocation of 3,000 places in August 2021.

“The War in Afghanistan was Australia’s longest, and a humanitarian intake of this size reflects this. Our commitment to Afghan refugees will be second only in scale to our humanitarian intake from Syria and Iraq,” Minister Hawke said.

“Today’s announcement of 15,000 places follows our initial allocation of 3,000 places to Afghanistan in August 2021, which as we indicated then, was a floor and not a ceiling. This continues to be the case. The Government will continue to monitor processing numbers and reserves the right to increase the program in future years,” Minister Hawke said.

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