Protection visas
How Polaron addressed misinformation about Protection visas and empowered multicultural communities with accurate information, trusted collaborations and resources.
Overview
The Department of Home Affairs is a key government agency in Australia responsible for managing national security, immigration, law enforcement, and emergency management. It plays a central role in protecting Australia’s sovereignty and ensuring the safety and prosperity of its citizens.
The campaign
Noticing a surge in non-genuine applications for Protection visas (subclass 866), the Department of Home Affairs engaged with Polaron and Icon Agency to launch a communications campaign to raise awareness of the purpose and misuse of protection visas amongst key communities onshore in Australia.
The work
Our goal was to provide clear and trusted information to diverse communities, overcoming language barriers and addressing misinformation to prevent exploitation. As part of the campaign, we:
- set up an advisory board with 18 community leaders
- recruited community ambassadors, photoshoot talent, campaign activators and social media monitors
- held 24 online and face-to-face focus groups, community events & meetings attended by 440+ people and organisations
- co-designed in-language multimedia resources with communities
- developed and rolled out engagement and dissemination strategies
Our campaign reached more than 2 million people, significantly raised awareness and successfully reduced the monthly number of non-genuine applicants by 20%.