Migrant Settlement Committee (Eastern Region) s1

PO Box 94 Forest Hill 3131 Chairperson: Tel: 0424 441 051 Sam Navarria Deputy Chair: Cynthia Shaw

MIGRANT SETTLEMENT COMMITTEE (EASTERN REGION) Standing Committee of the Communities’ Council on Ethnic Issues (Eastern Region) Inc Reg. No. A0017562S Minutes – June 1st 2012 Knox City Council, 511 Burwood Highway, Wantirna South (Melway Ref 64 12A), Room 4

1. Welcome – Cynthia welcomed MSC members to the meeting as well as special guests. Sam Navarria is away overseas for a number of weeks and would be back in time for the next meeting in August.

2. Thank you to Knox City Council: Cynthia thanked Knox City Council for kindly hosting this meeting at their premises in Knox and especially Belinda Gillam and her Manager Kathy Parton for organising this visit by the MSC to this venue. This demonstrates the commitment of the council to multicultural servicing in the EMR.

3. Present Joseph Agwalama Department of Justice, Multicultural Liaison Officer Samantha Blake AMES Employment Box Hill Fiona Brown City of Boroondara, Senior Policy and Project Officer Leonie Burnham ECLC Inner East Office, Manager Hsin-Mei Chang AMES Employment Box Hill Linda Chen Community Member Karen Connolly Swinburne University, Team Leader CALD Chris Cosgriff CCOEI President, ANCHOR Cr Jo Cossari Councillor Knox City Council Sarah Daly AMES HSS Consortium, Team Leader Rebecca Dunsdon MIC, Settlement and Community Development Riad Galil Knox Multicultural Advisory Committee Belinda Gillam Knox City Council, Community Development Officer, ANCHOR Michael Hardie JANSSEN Spirituality Centre, Director Margi Jelovcic Central East Whitehorse MIND Suzette Kabaila Oakleigh AMES, Education Unit Manager Candy Kuruppu Fundraising & Marketing Coordinator Best chance child family care Erica Lambert Maori & Polynesian committee Coordinator Ngwala East Willumbong Teena Lee Eastern Health, Child & Youth Mental Health, Mental Health Promotion Officer Stephen Noy Victoria Police, Community Enhancement Inspector Railey Orger City of Whitehorse, Diversity and Ageing Officer Kathy Parton Manager, Community Wellbeing Knox City Council Kirsten Reedy City of Manningham, Social Planning and Development Officer Chris Riseley Yarra Ranges Council, Community Development Officer Cynthia Shaw CCOEI Lee Thomas Vic Pol Sui Ting Tse Louise Multicultural Community Centre, CCOEI Heather Weaver Box Hill AMES EUM

MSC Minutes June 2012 1 Apologies: Natasha Andrews Maurice Blackburn, Lawyer Jeska Chamberlain Vic Pol Glenis Crocker CCOEI, Secretary Janet Dean Swinburne University, Senior Educator Twanny Farrugia CCOEI Cindy Kung Louise Multicultural Community Centre Deborah Lawrence Eastern Health, Mental Health Promotion Officer Helene Lim Department Of Justice, Consumer Affairs Victoria Daisy Luo DIAC State Office, Settlement Grants Manager Sam Navarria AMES, CCOEI Meg Scolyer EACH, Health Promotion Officer Elizabeth Sidiropoulos Victoria Police, Region 4, MLU, Knox Shahan Tan AMES Box Hill, Assistant Education Unit Manager Bwe Thay Swinburne University, AMEP Pathway Counsellor Clary Verbunt CCOEI Fred Warren Holmesglen TAFE,

Guest: Huss Mustafa, Chairperson - Eastern Regional Advisory Council, Victorian Multicultural Commission

4. Minutes of May 4th 2012 meeting Minutes circulated prior to the meeting. No amendments received. Moved Leonie. Seconded Chris. Accepted.

5. Business Arising - incorporated in the meeting agenda.

6. Settlement Needs in your Area – on going item for input to DIAC re unmet needs.

7. Calendar of meetings and forums – Calendar reflects updates to forums.

MSC CALENDAR OF MEETINGS AND FORUMS 2012 MSC MEETING FOCUS Proposed Forums/activities International Meeting and dates Multicultural DATE TBC = “to be Calendar events in confirmed” 2012 January No meeting Jan 03 Feb The Red Cross – International Feb Tracing Services, Jane Billings, Red Cross Tracing Caseworker, International Tracing Service Whitehorse City Council Diversity Policy and Action Plan - Railey Orger Community Development Officer - Diversity and Healthy Ageing Community Detention (Team March 21: Harmony Leader Sarah Brown, Red Cross) Day and Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme (Team Leader Andrea Brookes, Red Cross); 02 March Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project (Community Liaison Coordinator Samantha Charlesworth) Michael Hardie, Director, JANSSEN Spirituality Centre No April 7 - World Health meeting Day, recognized by the in April UN

MSC Minutes June 2012 2 04 May RCOA Update: Louise Olliff, Family Violence Forum (date May 21 - World Day for Settlement Policy Coordinator, 25/5, Mooroolbark Community Cultural Diversity for RCOA Centre) Leonie (Convenor); Dialogue and Glenis, Jeska, Meg, Jasmina, Development, Judy (MIC), MSO Centrelink, local councils (Knox, Maroondah, Whitehorse, Yarra Ranges, etc). 01 June Eastern Region Regional Advisory Refugee Week (date TBC) – June 20 – World Council (RAC).Guest: Huss Working with BELS Chris to Refugee Day, Mustafa, Chair RAC. discuss with BELS. Working June 26 - Day - group: Rebecca, Suzette, Support of Victims of Chris, Belinda (possibly), Vic Torture Pol, CFA, local council, Sheriff Office, Centrelink MSO July No meeting 03 Aug Fire safety and water safety and Aug CALD communities, Stephen O’Malley, MFB and David Holland, Life Saving Victoria 07 Sept Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Employment Expo with a Sep (ASRC) Kon Karapanagiotidis, focus on services/jobs Director ASRC targeting refugees and migrants (Date & month TBC) OR Interfaith networks: why are Contact: TBC; Shahan, AMES they important to community Employment Services; cohesion? Thomas, Jennifer, Maria; Karen; MIC (TBC) OR Mental Health and CALD?

OR Local Governments and their work with CALD communities – Con Pagonis et al 05 Oct Local Governments and their work Disability (Migrants with a October 17 - with CALD communities – Con Disability, barriers, myths and International Day for Pagonis et al stigma) and Health forum the Eradication of (including mental health; Poverty, recognized by OR Interfaith networks: why are migrant carer needs and UN they important to community gaps). Cynthia (Convenor); cohesion? Robyn K, MSO Centrelink; Meg; VPCP, Marilyn (refugee OR Mental Health and CALD Health Nurse), AMES Settlement (Sarah) 02 Nov Review MSC 2012 program; plan November 16 - MSC 2013 program International Day for Tolerance November 25 - International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Decemb No meeting Dec er Other focus areas: Office of Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship (OMAC). Newly Arrived CALD and the Law/Justice system to minimize/prevent risk of offending; successful CALD associations; family support programs and services; Provisional spouse entrants: access/lack of access to services; refugee health and mental health; council grants.

8. Eastern Regional Advisory Council (RAC) of the Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC), Speaker Huss Mustafa, Chairperson - Eastern RAC of the VMC

MSC Minutes June 2012 3 Huss began by telling the story of his arrival in Australia as a young teenager in 1968. For 5 years he learnt English the hard way - by being thrown in at the deep end. Not speaking any English was very difficult, for example there were also no Turkish/English dictionaries in the school library. Being from a Turkish background he found school life quite challenging and was bullied at school. However, he made a commitment to himself and his teachers to excel. An opportunity arose to apply to the then State Bank for employment as a 17 year old. Through the bank he was provided with support to go back to university to complete an accounting degree which took 4.5 years to complete. He is now a senior executive with Commonwealth Bank Business Banking. Huss stated that his own story is an example of the “lucky country”. Huss believes that we need to celebrate our achievements in the multicultural field but not become complacent. He is passionate about Victoria’s cultural diversity and uses his own experiences to help others.

Regional Advisory Councils were set up in 2011 through the Multicultural Act and launched in March 2012. The aims of the Regional Advisory Councils are to:  provide advice to the VMC on settlement, multicultural affairs, service delivery and citizenship issues;

 advocate on behalf of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities; and

 Promote the benefits of cultural and religious diversity at the local level.

Three Regional Advisory Councils are based in Melbourne and surrounds - Eastern Metropolitan, North & West Metropolitan and Southern Metropolitan - and five are based in rural and regional Victoria - Barwon South West, Hume, Loddon Mallee, Gippsland and Grampians.

RACs consult with ethnic communities and each RAC has 12 members. First meeting was in Monash, 2nd meeting in Knox (August). Meetings are every 4 months. The aim is to get good dialog happening in the community. Huss noted RACs are not decision making bodies. Their role is advisory to identify and collate issues at the grass roots level.

There are 4 most critical issues in the Eastern Region:  Health (includes age care and mental health)

 Education

 Employment

 Service Coordination (Many migrants don’t know what they don’t know)

Huss invited people to contact him with solutions to issues which he can take to the Minister on the following email address [email protected]

Suzette (AMES) stated that one solution is mentor programs to help migrants and refugees get jobs. Huss stated that he is reaching out to large Board Rooms across Victoria. There is the opportunity for corporate organisations to provide assistance.

Cr. Joe Cossari Councillor Joe Cossari is a member of the Eastern RAC. He arrived in Australia in 1956. In 1997 he was elected as Councillor to the City of Maroondah. His father never imagined that one of his family members from a small Calabrian village could one day become the Mayor of a City of 100,000 residents. He was the first overseas born Mayor for two of the most important Municipalities in the EMR of Melbourne (Maroondah and Knox).

Through these positions Joe was able to speak on behalf of the Italian community and raise their issues in many forums. Being vocal at this level brought to the forefront issues that are relevant to the community; such as the need for interpreters for the aging Italian population, serving appropriate food in retirement homes where Italians are resident, and raising awareness. This is a great country; however, he states that it is important for the community to work together with local government and other organisations to achieve outcomes for

MSC Minutes June 2012 4 disadvantaged migrant communities. Cr.Cossari stated that MSC members are welcome to contact him on his email address: [email protected]

9. Forum and agency reports Refugee Week Chris stated that for a range of reasons there would not be a Refugee Week Forum this year. Leonie talked about other ways to achieve great outcomes, e.g. how she was involved in a communication strategy that worked which included Social Media & Tweets; Mail out; media good news stories etc.

MSC members were encouraged to participate in as many other community functions as possible to provide support for Refugee Week from the MSC membership

Disability Forum Cynthia reported that new members on this committee include Maria de Monte and Twanny Farrugia.The EACH member is Jane Ludtke. The Steering Committee will work with a Ringwood Advocacy group called DAGER. The first meeting with this group proved very inspirational. The next meeting would be on 25 June. A project brief will be circulated as soon as possible. Date and venue to be advised.

Employment Expo Karen Connolly (Swinburne) reported that she has booked the Employment expo for Croydon Swinburne auditorium for October 19 Friday all day

Agency Reports Knox City Council Report  Twenty English language students from Swinburne Wantirna Campus attended a two hour session on 23 May to learn about services provided by Council. This was a ‘win- win’ for all involved, as Council staff got valuable experience communicating with residents with limited English skills.  40 Knox Council staff attended ‘Introduction to Cultural Awareness’ training on 31 May, provided by the MIC.  The latest edition of ‘Knox Business Life’ newsletter featured a local business which has over 50% of its employees from Burma. Here is a brief paragraph about the Burmese workers at Hi-Class Composites which Belinda spoke about at the meeting.

“Burmese Workers in Knox It would be unusual for any mainstream company in Knox, or possibly even Australia, to have 50 per cent of its employees from Burma! See the attached article from Knox Business Life to read about Hi-Class Composites in Bayswater, a business which specialises in the manufacture and painting of fibreglass parts for the automotive industry, and how it came to employ such a high percentage of Burmese staff.”

Next Meeting: Friday 3rd August 2012 Focus: Water and Fire Safety in CALD Communities Guests: David Holland (Life Saving Victoria); Stephen O’Malley (Melbourne Fire and Emergency Services Board).

MSC Minutes June 2012 5