The community sponsorship movement has come a long way in Australia. After years of research, development, advocacy and successful piloting, the government announced in February 2025 that the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) will become a ‘permanent and valuable’ part of Australia’s humanitarian program.
The CRISP has seen more than 750 refugee newcomers matched with welcoming community supporter groups around the country and is having a profound and positive impact on the lives of those directly involved, not to mention the ripple effect in the broader community.
Church communities have been active participants welcoming and supporting the refugee newcomers through CRISP, in numerous urban, regional and rural parts of Australia.
Church involvement and support to CRSA and CRISP has previously included Toowoomba-based Bishop Cameron Venables, Western Regional Bishop of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland (ACSQ), serving as a Director on the CRSA Board.
Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) has welcomed the election of the Albanese government as it will be implementing a welcome and ambitious pledge made at the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023 – to progressively increase community sponsored and other complementary pathways to 10,000 additional refugee places in Australia per year.
This aligns with CRSA’s own organisational goals, and those of many in our growing network of Supporting Community Organisations.
Going forward and to ensure that the goal of 10,000 additional places for refugees is achieved in the coming years, CRSA will be working to continue to grow Australia’s community sponsorship movement and the various pathways that this model can support:
- Refugees without links to Australia: CRSA will continue to advocate for the CRISP to become additional to the core humanitarian intake quota.
- Refugees with links to Australia: CRSA will continue to develop the model and advocate for a new/reformed process for Australians to sponsor refugees who are known to them (whether through personal networks, family bonds, professional networks, shared interests/identities or some other connection) in a way that is additional to the core humanitarian quota.
- People fleeing sudden global events: CRSA will advocate for community sponsorship to be embedded within a government-led ‘Emergency Response’ framework. This would ensure that Australia has the tools and knowhow on standby to enable the Australian community to step up when large or sudden global events trigger new intakes, like during the Afghan evacuations in 2021.
- Refugee students: Through the Refugee Student Sponsorship Pathway (RSSP) CRSA will continue to work with colleagues in the tertiary education sector to demonstrate how community sponsorship model can help provide pathways for refugee students who wish to resettle here and study.
- Refugee with skills Australian needs: CRSA will continue to work with colleagues leading on employer-sponsored pathways for refugees, applying the power of community sponsorship to support such initiatives.
Chief Executive Officer of CRSA, Lisa Button says,
“Thank you for your ongoing support for the growing community sponsorship movement. We look forward to future collaborations with colleagues and supporters across the Australian community in the months and years ahead.”