Australia’s leading migrant and refugee settlement agency AMES has changing its name to AMES Australia in a move to reflect its expansion in offering settlement services across Australia and beyond.

After extensive consultation with staff, stakeholders and clients, AMES has adopted the new name AMES Australia effective from August 2015.

The move supports the organisation’s strategic objective to “expand the network of services and partners to enhance settlement outcomes for migrants and refugees throughout Australia”.

Announcing the change in Melbourne this week, AMES Australia CEO, Cath Scarth said that although the name change was subtle it signalled the organisation’s intent to expand offerings to all corners of the nation and beyond that require settlement expertise, knowledge planning and service delivery.

“We are changing our name but our commitment to helping new arrivals to Australia settle will remain at the heart of our mission,” Ms Scarth said.

“We have been in this sector for over 63 years and in that time we have built an enviable reputation as the pre-eminent provider of settlement services to new arrivals. We believe that as we expand our service offerings beyond state boundaries it is important that our name and brand reflect these changes”, she said.

AMES began life in the 1950s as an organisation that taught English to post war migrants in Melbourne but it has now expanded into a provider of integrated education and vocational training, settlement and employment services in Victoria.

AMES has achieved enduring settlement outcomes for over a half a million migrants and refugees through the successful delivery of innovative and comprehensive settlements services and programs.

“We look to the future with confidence and optimism and a strategic intent to provide more of our quality settlement services to greater a number of newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers as opportunities arise”, Ms Scarth said.

“From modest beginnings as an organisation that was known as the Adult Multicultural Education Service, we became more colloquially known as AMES and have since grown to become Australia’s pre-eminent settlement agency providing a range of services to our diverse client base.

“Over the period of our history, more than half a million clients have benefited from AMES programs and services that have improved individual lives and communities throughout Victoria,” Ms Scarth said.

AMES Australia is now delivering settlement, education and employment services in Victoria as well as employment services in NSW.

Sarah Gilmour
AMES Australia Staff Writer