Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697634370027.pdf (Australia)
SBS Submission to the Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee on Migration Learning from Regional Migration Success Stories Inquiry September 2019 Key Points  The Special Broadcasting Service Corporation (SBS) is an Australian public broadcaster, with the principal function of providing multilingual and multicultural radio, television and digital media services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia’s multicultural society.
 SBS has played a unique and significant role in supporting settlement of migrants for more than 40 years.

Considering its area of expertise, SBS is exceptionally well placed to facilitate and support the success of migration to regional Australia.
 According to a recent study by Deloitte Access Economics for SBS, improved social inclusion would mean quantifiable economic benefits to Australia of $12.7 billion per annum, resulting from inclusive growth, reduced cost of social services, improvement in mental and physical health, improved employment outcomes, and increased productivity in workplaces.
Regional and metropolitan areas alike can expect to enjoy these economic benefits.1  SBS produces radio services and online content in 68 languages other than English, providing essential news and information about life in Australia.

In particular, its practical in-language Settlement Guide is produced in more than 35 languages.
The Settlement Guide already includes practical information and guidance on moving to regional Australia, with targeted information that assists regional migrant settlement.2 SBS would welcome an exploration of how these resources could be expanded and better utilised to further support regional settlement.

 SBS’s online education and training platform, SBS Learn, as well as SBS’s Cultural Competence Program (the CCP) and Cultural Atlas, promote understanding of social, cultural and linguistic diversity.
These platforms can be further utilised to promote social cohesion among those who live and settle in regional Australia.

 SBS welcomes opportunities to explore potential partnerships with local, state and federal entities—for the purpose of expanding its existing functions as well as looking at opportunities to provide additional services, in order to further assist with regional settlement needs.
1 The Economic Benefits of Improving Social Inclusion, August 2019—available at https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/economic-benefits-improving-social-inclusion.html 2 Examples available at https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/settlement-guide-moving-to-regional-australia Page 1 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 Introduction SBS appreciates the opportunity to submit to the Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee on Migration (the Committee) Learning from Regional Migration Success Stories Inquiry (the Inquiry).
As Australia’s multilingual and multicultural public broadcaster, it is the principal function of SBS to provide radio, television and digital media services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia’s multicultural society.
A quarter of Australians were born overseas, almost half have at least one parent born overseas, and 21 per cent (4.87 million people) speak a language other than English at home, according to the 2016 Australian Census.3 The media release of the Inquiry noted that there are more than 7 million migrants living in Australia helping to stimulate growth, create more jobs and slow the ageing of the Australian population.
The media release also outlined some of the challenges in regional migration: Many of our smaller cities and regional areas, however, cannot fill the jobs available – with an estimated 60,000 job vacancies in regional Australia today […] While approximately 187,000 international migrants settled in regional areas between 2006 and 2011, this accounts for only 20 percent of arrivals in that period, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.4 For over 40 years, SBS has facilitated successful migration outcomes and supported social cohesion for both new arrivals and established communities.
SBS is uniquely well placed to further facilitate efforts to support migrants relocating to regional Australia through its capability to create unique content which:  Assists with settlement needs specific to regional Australia (for example: providing migrants with information on available career paths and support services—including health, language and education services)  Fosters connections between migrants in more remote areas and their established communities The Economic Benefits of Improving Social Inclusion The Economic Benefits of Improving Social Inclusion (the Report) by Deloitte Access Economics and commissioned by SBS was published in August 2019.
For the first time in this way, it quantifies the potential lift to Australia’s economy that could be driven by improved employment and health outcomes, increased workplace productivity, and reduced costs of social services, as a result of greater social inclusion.
It shows that improved social inclusion would mean quantifiable economic benefits to Australia of $12.7 billion per annum.5 The quantitative analysis in the Report largely focuses on the benefits of social inclusion for culturally and linguistically diverse communities, specifically migrant communities.
As these 3 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016 Census available at https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0~2016~Main%20Features~Cultural%20Diversity%20Dat a%20Summary~30 4 Media release of the Inquiry available at https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Migration/RegionalMigration/Media_Releases 5 The Economic Benefits of Improving Social Inclusion, August 2019—available at https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/economic-benefits-improving-social-inclusion.html Page 2 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 communities are increasingly included6 in Australia’s regional areas, such areas would also enjoy the consequent economic growth and prosperity.
The following excerpts from the Report exemplify how economic benefits arise from some of the five key drivers identified by the Report: Increased productivity in the workplace: Business benefits from social inclusion in a number of ways: diversity can be a source of creativity and innovation, lifting productivity; social inclusion can also lift profitability and help target market segments.
Improved employment outcomes: Greater social inclusion means people are less likely to face discrimination, increasing their capacity to gain employment or longer work hours and contribute to the economy.

[…] Part of the $12.7 billion [per annum in quantifiable economic benefits to Australia] figure—approximately $5 billion—represents higher productivity from more creative and innovative workplaces where employees experience greater inclusion.
But there are also labour market benefits from increased employment, worth almost $1.2 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year.

[…] Improvement in mental and physical health: Social inclusion can counteract isolation and increase community participation, which helps to alleviate health problems, especially mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
[…]7 The Report states that if social inclusion levels were to improve by 14% amongst migrant communities, using the most conservative estimate from Deloitte’s econometric modelling, there would be a $6.5 billion increase in quality of life for the migrant community population of Australia.8 The remaining key drivers of economic benefits outlined in the Report are: Reduced cost of social services: Social inclusion reduces the cost of social services by easing pressure on the public health system and reducing the need for income and housing support payments.
[…]9 A 2014 study on the need to close the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ employment outcomes, found that there would be a net fiscal improvement to the Australian government of around $12 billion.

This was partly driven by greater tax revenue; however, there was also an estimated benefit of $4.7 billion in lower expenditure in areas such as health, housing and social security.
Similarly, the Australian Human Rights Commission has recognised that improved employment outcomes for people with a mental disability would reduce demand on welfare systems.10 Inclusive growth: By lifting wages and workforce participation in areas of socioeconomic disadvantage, the benefits of economic growth can be shared more evenly across all Australian communities.
[…]11 Deloitte has looked at both the economic benefits of prioritising inclusive growth and the costs that can arise from neglecting it as a policy objective.

The 2017 Confidently Queensland report found that home ownership, job opportunities and access to education were becoming increasingly concentrated in the central and south-east areas of Queensland, with regional areas being left behind.
The potential dividend from addressing this disparity and achieving inclusive growth, among other policy objectives, was estimated to be a $54 billion bigger Queensland economy by 2027.

Similarly, Deloitte has found in Victoria that social disadvantage has been increasingly clustered around the outer fringes of Melbourne, with these areas experiencing lower labour participation and wages than inner-Melbourne areas.
Lifting wages and workforce participation in these areas of socioeconomic disadvantage may help benefits to be realised across the whole state—estimated by Deloitte to be some $3.3 billion per annum.
Similarly, there are often large disparities in economic and social outcomes in some regional, remote and very remote areas of Australia.12 6 A plan for Australia’s Future Population, Prime Minister of Australia, available at https://www.pm.gov.au/media/plan-australias- future-population 7 The Report, p7 8 The Report, p32 9 The Report, p7 10 The Report, p27 11 The Report, p7 12 The Report, p28 Page 3 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 Figure 1 An excerpt from the Report’s accompanying summary card (print material) SBS Radio and language services SBS Radio is the world’s most linguistically diverse public broadcaster, delivering cross- platform services in 68 languages with Australian and international news and current affairs, sport, culture, music and settlement information.
To reflect Australia’s changing needs, SBS conducts its Radio Services Review every five years, following the publication of Census results by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Content for ‘high-needs’13 audiences is closely linked to the SBS Settlement Guide (see next section) and leverages broadcasters’ strong connections to community.

Subsequent to its most recent Radio Services Review, SBS introduced six new language services in 2018.
Broadcasters in Kirundi, Mongolian, Tibetan, Hakha Chin, Karen and Rohingya were recruited, with services for each language launched progressively between May and August 2018.

These services aim to reflect the changing face of Australia.
13 Criteria for high-needs languages available at https://www.sbs.com.au/radio/radio-services-review Page 4 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 Reinvestment and reallocation of funding to escalate digital outputs has assisted SBS Radio in efficient delivery of services and deliver on its Charter obligations to provide “digital media services” in addition to traditional linear radio or TV broadcast.
SBS language services are available online, on demand and via a range of platforms.

The new SBS language services are all available as podcasts accessible via the SBS website and SBS Radio app.

SBS Settlement Guide Building on SBS Radio’s long history of providing balanced and impartial news and information to migrants, the SBS Settlement Guide was launched in 2016, with more than 35 SBS Radio language services now producing broadcast and online settlement features.
These features include ‘need-to-know’ facts about settling in Australia, including regional Australia (see Figure 2).

They provide information about aspects of daily life, local culture, history, and government services (for example, tips on how to access medical services, surf safety, find a playgroup, enrol to vote, and lodge a tax return).

Each Settlement Guide is produced in-house as an audio feature for radio, a text article for online and a ‘listicle’ for sharing on social media.
The Settlement Guide relates directly to SBS’s purpose of informing, educating and inspiring all Australians, and by so doing encouraging social cohesion.
The Guide is available in Bangla, Filipino, Gujarati, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Tamil, Urdu, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Kurdish, Spanish, Amharic, Dari, Dinka, Persian, Khmer, Pashto, Swahili, Thai, Tigrinya, Turkish, Hmong, Hakha Chin, Karen, Kirundi, Mongolian, Rohingya, Tibetan and Somali.14 14 SBS Settlement Guide available at https://www.sbs.com.au/radio/settlement-guide Page 5 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 Figure 2 Example of a Settlement Guide’s podcast on SBS Mongolian website15 The Inquiry is considering how communities and settlement services can best assist migrants in regional Australia to gain successful employment outcomes.
SBS is continually developing additional Settlement Guide information which is a very useful resource for communities and settlement services.

As appropriate, these may focus on issues specific to migration in regional areas.

SBS already regularly engages with communities and stakeholders working in the settlement sector.
However, it would welcome further engagement with relevant Government and non- Government service providers to look at improving awareness of these services, and expanding them where possible (depending on available resourcing).
SBS content services Through its six free-to-air television channels (SBS, SBS HD, SBS VICELAND, SBS World Movies, SBS FOOD and National Indigenous Television (NITV)) and SBS On Demand video-on- demand platform, SBS provides audiences throughout Australia with a vast collection of multicultural dramas and documentaries telling local stories (for example Go Back to Where You Came From16); major international sporting events, such as the recent 2018 FIFA World Cup RussiaTM; a channel devoted to exploring the world and its cultures through food; as well as 15 Moving to Regional Australia Settlement Guide in Mongolian language available at https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/settlement-guide-moving-to-regional-australia 16 Go Back to Where You Came From follows Australians who have differing opinions on Australia's asylum seeker debate being taken on a journey in reverse to that which refugees have taken to reach Australia.
Page 6 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 news, information and reports from regional Australia by our correspondents located in different states and territories.

SBS provides the opportunity for a diverse array of views and voices to be represented in mainstream media.
It provides unique content that supports migrant and Indigenous communities and promotes the benefits of a more inclusive society to all Australians, at a time when inspiring a greater understanding of the value of diversity has never been more important.
Recent news features on regional Australia include The Feed’s report17 on the state of mental health services in Albury, New South Wales, in July 2019 (see Figure 3); and a September 2019 NITV News report18 on 120 indigenous female rangers from across the Northern Territory who formed the first-ever network of women working in land and sea management.
Figure 3 A screen from The Feed‘s July 2019 report19 on the state of mental health services in Albury, New South Wales 17 The Feed, July 2019 https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/in-this-town-locals-say-mental-health-care-is-better-in- prison-than-in-hospital 18 NITV News, September 2019 https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2019/09/04/female-ranger-network-hopes-be-first- connect-women-working-country 19 The Feed, July 2019 https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/in-this-town-locals-say-mental-health-care-is-better-in- prison-than-in-hospital Page 7 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 Another example of SBS’s unique content that explores multicultural stories in regional Australia is Where Are You Really From?, a documentary series currently in its second season.
Hosted by comedian Michael Hing, the series delves into serious issues like racism and integration from a humorous perspective, as well as telling uplifting stories of successful migrant settlement in regional Australia.

From country Victoria to regional Queensland, Michael Hing speaks to Chinese, Sikh and South Sudanese migrants among others (see Figures 4 & 5).

Figure 4 Where Are You Really From?


Season 1 on SBS On Demand website20: the series explores migrants’ lives in regional towns of Towoomba, Queensland; Woolgoolga, New South Wales; as well as the city of Bendigo in Victoria.

20 Where Are You Really From?

available at https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/where-are-you-really-from Page 8 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 Figure 5 Where Are You Really From?
Season 2 on SBS On Demand website21: the series explores migrants’ lives in regional towns of Katanning, Western Australia; Ingham, Far North Queensland; South Australia’s Barossa Valley region and Western Sydney’s suburb of Fairfield.

SBS’s Small Business Secrets is weekly programming hosted by SBS World News presenter Ricardo Gonçalves.

It focuses on the small business owners and innovators playing a vital role in Australia's economic growth, including those located in regional Australia.
The program’s content is also available on SBS On Demand.

The program supports regional entrepreneurship, business initiatives and employment opportunities among migrants by showcasing stories of successful migrant-run businesses (see Figure 6, as an example).

21 Where are you really from?


available at https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/where-are-you-really-from Page 9 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 Figure 6 A screenshot from Small Business Secrets on SBS website22 Education and training resources SBS Learn is an education function of SBS dedicated to providing educational resources linked to SBS documentaries, drama series, news and current affairs and other network productions.
Resources are developed in accordance with the Australian Curriculum.

SBS would welcome future opportunities for SBS Learn to support migration and social cohesion in regional areas.

In particular, there may be opportunities for SBS Learn to contribute to future digital literacy initiatives 23.

SBS has extensive experience working with partners to draw on expertise of relevant subject matter experts.
For example, ahead of the August 2019 premiere of SBS drama, The Hunting24, SBS partnered with the eSafety Commissioner to produce educational resources to assist parents and teachers to keep young people safe online.
There is also an 22 SBS Small Business Secret’s Putting the Spotlight on Regional Entrepreneurship available at https://www.sbs.com.au/news/small-business-secrets/article/2017/10/13/putting-spotlight-regional-entrepreneurship 23 The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission proposed a role for SBS in digital literacy initiatives in the Digital Platforms Inquiry – Final Report, page 21, published in July 2019 and available at https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Digital%20platforms%20inquiry%20-%20final%20report.pdf 24 The Hunting follows the lives of four young Australians, their teachers and families throughout the lead up, revelation and aftermath of a nude teen photo scandal.
It explores the experiences of the teenagers as they traverse the complexities of relationships, identity and sexuality via technology.

Page 10 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 opportunity to amplify regional settlement and engagement through SBS’s Community Advisory Committee, with member representation now including (as of September, 2019) Settlement Services International’s (SSI) Chief Executive Officer, Ms Violet Roumeliotis.
In 2016, Multicultural NSW and International Education Services partnered with SBS to produce the Cultural Competence Program (the CCP) 25.

This mobile app (see Figure 7) and online training tool assists Australian organisations to navigate and maximise the benefits of cultural diversity in the workplace by exploring topics including cross-cultural communication, addressing stereotypes and unconscious bias.
Figure 7 A screenshot of the CCP mobile app on iOS platform In the same year, SBS’s Cultural Atlas26 was also created as a supplementary resource to the CCP.
It provides a unique opportunity for users to gain a broad understanding of the norms and 25 Further information about SBS’s Cultural Competence Program available at https://cultural-competence.com.au/home 26 SBS’s Cultural Atlas available at https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/ Page 11 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 behaviour that would generally be familiar to people from other cultures.
Examples of regional entities that utilise SBS’s learning and education resources include (but are not limited to):  Gosford Regional Community Services Inc., New South Wales  Toowoomba Hospice Assoc.
Inc., Queensland  Shoalhaven Women’s Health Centre, New South Wales  Social Futures, Northern Rivers, New South Wales  Allowah Presbyterian Hospital, New South Wales  Care South, South Coast, New South Wales  Centacare, South-West New South Wales  Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses, Victoria  Cairns State High School, Queensland  Noosa Surgical and Endoscopy Centre, Queensland  Unitywater, Northern South-East Queensland  Livingstone Shire Council, Queensland Figure 8 A screenshot from Cultural Atlas on SBS website27 27 SBS’s Cultural Atlas available at https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/ Page 12 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 Future initiatives to assist migrant settlement in regional Australia could benefit from similar platforms and tools, which would help foster greater cultural understanding between local communities and migrants arriving in their areas.
Inspired Communities and community engagement ‘Inspired Communities’ is a key strategic pillar for SBS’s activities.

This focuses on three key areas:  activating, supporting and extending SBS content with key community groups and audiences;  partnering with our many communities to help tell their important stories; and  identifying industry partnerships that improve the depth and breadth of SBS’s community impact and contribute to a cohesive society.
SBS community engagement extends across all language services—including SBS Radio broadcasters attending events, conducting outside broadcasts at festivals and hosting language-specific community forums.
These engagement initiatives aim to both inspire Australia’s many culturally and linguistically diverse communities and to provide content for relevant SBS language services—as an example, in 2018, SBS organised a Meet The Broadcaster session at Lennox Head Community Centre in Lennox Head, a coastal town in regional New South Wales.
In addition to these measures, SBS also maintains ongoing engagement with key organisations which represent and promote the interests of various communities, including peak bodies such as the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA).
From a settlement perspective, SBS continues to support and engage with a range of national, state and locally based settlement organisations including the aforementioned SSI, Multicultural Development Australia (MDA), Access Community Services (ACS), NSW Service For Treatment & Rehabilitation Of Torture & Trauma Survivors (STARTTS), Migrant Resource Centres (MRC) and others.
Key local, state and federal initiatives for successful regional settlement outcomes SBS welcomes opportunities to explore potential partnerships with local, state, non- government and federal entities—to expand its current functions or to provide additional services that further assist with regional settlement needs.
For example, these may include providing migrants with information about available career paths, support services (including language and education services) and information about established community groups.

Infrastructure matters SBS reaches almost 100 per cent of the population, including those in regional and rural areas, through its six free-to-air television channels and seven radio stations.
SBS Radio is dedicated to the nearly five million Australians who speak a language other than English at home.

SBS’s reach is being significantly extended through SBS’s digital services, including SBS On Demand, the SBS Radio App and portals which make online audio programming and information available to audiences at a time and place of their choosing.

SBS broadcasts language programs on both the AM and FM frequencies nationally across Australia.
SBS Radio 1 and SBS Radio 2 are broadcast on both the AM and FM frequencies in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong.

SBS Radio also broadcasts nationally on either Page 13 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86 the AM or FM frequencies in other major centres around Australia.

Additional local area radio infill services are provided under ‘self-help’ arrangements, for example by a local council or community group.
The first phase of DAB digital radio expansion has now been completed in regional markets—Canberra, Hobart and Darwin, in addition to existing coverage in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Regarding the uptake of digital media services in regional areas, in 2018 SBS recently submitted to the Review of the Viewer Access Satellite Television service.
In that submission, SBS noted: … while broadband technologies are increasingly reaching greater population numbers, they are not yet achieving the reach and capacity which terrestrial and VAST services already have – near-universal access.

Whilst internet-enabled delivery technologies and platforms are developing, there are capacity issues which are likely to lead to a significant time lag before they reach the same proportion of the population at requisite speeds, particularly in remote areas.
However, despite the growth in online content delivery mechanisms, broadcast (both terrestrial and satellite) remains the most robust and reliable one-to-many content delivery mechanism, particularly when audience volumes are very high (e.g.

significant news or sporting events).


SBS strongly supports the further development of broadband and high speed internet technologies in regional areas in order to be able to provide a full suite of services to these audiences, including content currently only available online.

Conclusion For more than 40 years, SBS has played a unique and significant role in supporting settlement of migrants and is very well placed to facilitate the ongoing success of migration to regional Australia.
Should funding permit, SBS would be interested in exploring opportunities to play an even greater role in regional migration and settlement as well as increasing awareness of the services it currently provides.
Some of the future initiatives may include but not be limited to:  recruiting more journalists in regional areas, who would help focus on culturally diverse communities in those areas;  broadening the range of Settlement Guide topics, with more coverage on regional issues; or having specific regional series of the Settlement Guide;  extending the languages in which the Settlement Guide is available;  expanding SBS’s in-language web pages to provide more regional content;  increasing local content (in-house, commissioned, and special-purpose) for SBS’s free-to-air and On Demand services; and increasing the role that SBS may have in digital literacy.
 SBS would welcome the opportunity to explore such opportunities with both government and non-government organisations, should additional resources become available.

Page 14 of 14 Inquiry into migration in regional AustraliaSubmission 86