Policy & Advocacy

AMWA’s submission responds to the Australian Government’s Shaping the Future of Employment Services Discussion Paper, which sets out the design of the new national employment services system.

Drawing on consultations across AMWA’s Thematic Working Groups and evidence from partners including our Activate Her Skills report, the submission highlights the structural barriers that keep multicultural, migrant and refugee women locked out of sustained, meaningful employment – non-recognition of overseas qualifications, gendered racism, visa and migration status, unrecognised care responsibilities, and a persistent lack of disaggregated data.

AMWA’s key recommendations include:

• Investing in skills recognition that extends to female-dominated professions such as health, education and community services, not just trades and construction.
• Establishing employment hubs or career gateways with skills recognition navigators.
• Implementing safe, intersectional data collection (visa status, postcode, language) to make multicultural women’s experiences visible in the system.
• Adopting commissioning models that sustain community organisations and social enterprises delivering wraparound support.
• Building culturally safe, gender-safe triage and assessment processes, with strength-based Employment Goal Plans.

AMWA calls for a genuine intersectional lens throughout the reform. Without targeted measures in the reform proposals, multicultural communities risk being left behind again.