The chief executive of Settlement Services International, Violet Roumeliotis, says Palestinian arrivals are “highly educated professionals and business owners”.
“Some were working in medicine and allied health, in engineering, in finance, social work.”
Of the Palestinians who have arrived in Australia, 80% hold at least one educational qualification beyond primary/secondary school and 73% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to data from the general delegation of Palestine to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.
Engineering, science and technical professionals, as well as medical and health professionals, are the most common occupational categories for arrivals. “The issue for them, of course, is they have no work rights [in Australia],” Roumeliotis says.