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 A total of $100,000 has now been shared among 12 grassroots community initiatives, with recipients in the second round of funding joining five projects that were allocated funding during the first round in early 2018.

Successful applicants and their projects (see further down for descriptions):

• The Peacemakers Ensemble – Learning English Through Song
• Al-Muntada (Iraqi Australian University Graduates Forum) – Iraqi Folklorama
• St Thomas Chaldean & Assyrian Catholic Diocese – English language course
• The Mandean Women’s Union – Learn and Work for Our Future
• The Chaldean League of NSW – Technology Support not only computers with basic English skills
• Sophie Bejok – Laziz Project
• Diversity Disability Alliance – Strength through Peers Support

The Community Innovation Fund was established in 2018 with a unique approach to funding that builds on the strengths and assets of community organisations and leaders in south-west Sydney, so they can develop and enhance their own approaches to supporting newcomers.

“Encouraging individuals and groups to identify areas of concern in their own community, and the resources they can harness, gives that community a voice to shape its own priorities,” said SSI Community Engagement Coordinator Kat O’Neill.

“It enables the community to have agency in the areas that matter most to them.

“When solutions are driven by the local community — by people who live and breathe their specific challenges and aspirations — the capacity of that community develops to find the most effective ways to meet their own needs.”

While Community Innovation Fund recipients drive their own project management, they are supported by SSI with skills coaching and connections to contacts in SSI’s networks, including the NSW Settlement Partnership, local governments, community groups, leaders and organisations.

With Round 1 proving successful in building stronger communities and growing the confidence and capabilities of recipients, SSI is excited about the opportunities to further develop community strengths in Round 2.

“It is inspiring to see the recipients mentor each other, form connections, develop their projects and apply for other grants to expand their work,” said Ms O’Neill.
The successful applicants

The Peacemakers Ensemble is a community choir based in Fairfield with members of refugee backgrounds from Mesopotamian-Australian communities. The choir has established a project called Learning English through Song (LETS), helping recently-arrived Syrian and Iraqi refugees in south-west Sydney acquire English language through the beauty and diversity of Australian song. Through the study, understanding and performance of Australian song, the project will increase English conversational skills and foster a sense of belonging and engagement with the wider Australian community, life and culture.

Through the promotion of cultural and educational activities that promote social cohesion, Al-Muntada aims to assist the emerging Iraqi community in south-west Sydney to participate in their new Australian community. The group has held a series of workshops around the folkloric music, song and dance of the diverse Iraqi communal groups, including Kurdish, Arab, Syriac, Assyrian and Gypsie cultures. All cultural groups danced together at the Shanasheel Iraqi Cultural Festival in November 2018.

The St Thomas Chaldean & Assyrian Catholic Diocese recognised that many community members, especially mothers and the elderly, were not able to attend the government’s Adult Migrant English Program although they wanted to learn English. In response, St Thomas has partnered with the Australian Catholic University (ACU) to develop and run English language classes for people from newly arrived refugee backgrounds.

The Mandean Women’s Union’s Learn and Work for Our Future is an introductory course to hairdressing for women from Mandean newly arrived refugee backgrounds. The project aims to foster the professional development of participants by introducing the basic concepts of hairdressing in Australia, providing them with connections to the hairdressing profession, and enabling credit towards hairdressing qualifications through the Union’s partnership with TAFE.

Increasingly newly arrived refugees are required to navigate online forms in English for services crucial to their everyday life, such as online banking and Centrelink. The Chaldean League’s technology support project aims to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence of newly arrived refugees to use technology and advance their English language skills. The project was developed by Raghda Aziz, a volunteer caseworker with the Chaldean League. Raghda arrived in Australia in 2011 with her family after fleeing persecution in Iraq. She has seen how simple mistakes on forms can affect people’s lives and is now known for her expertise and willingness to support newly arrived members of the community. This is the second time this project has been assisted by the Community Innovation Fund. Raghda has expanded the program and has brought on an English language educator who is supporting the classes with English language learning.

Sophie Bejok had been in Australia for only six months when she applied for the fund after fleeing Syria with her family. Auspiced by Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre, Sophie is managing the Laziz Project, which aims to enable women from newly-arrived backgrounds to meet new people and gain employable skills through cooking classes. The participants, from the Liverpool area, will undertake cooking sessions at the Refugee Welcome Centre in Callan Park, and will gain a Food Safety Certificate at the completion of the course.

Through its Strength through Peers Support project, the Diversity Disability Alliance aims to provide an opportunity for people from newly arrived refugee backgrounds and with a disability to build their peer support networks and receive one-on-one support from a peer mentor while addressing cultural attitudes and issues related to disability. This will be achieved through an introductory peer support course, a peer mentoring program, and Peer2Peer cafes, where peer facilitators and newly arrived people will meet others in the community with a disability.

Learn more about the Community Innovation Fund.

A former Bahraini national footballer, Mr al-Araibi found refuge and safety in Australia after fleeing torture and persecution in his home country.

Now he is languishing in immigration detention in Thailand and could be deported to certain danger in Bahrain.

SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said, “As an organisation responsible for the settlement and inclusion of refugees in Australia, many of whom have experienced torture or trauma, SSI expresses serious concern for the welfare of Mr al-Araibi, an Australian resident.

“This course of action taken by the Thai and Bahrain governments contravenes international human rights law and places Mr al-Araibi, a recognised refugee and torture survivor, at grave risk of imprisonment and torture if forcibly extradited.”

She said torture was an abhorrent practice and instrument of terror that could never be justified.

Torture could have severe and long-lasting health and mental health consequences for the victims and its impact could extend to the survivors’ families, friends and the community as a whole, she said.

“Under no circumstances should Mr al-Araibi be removed to Bahrain or to any other country in which he would be at real risk of serious human rights violations,” Ms Roumeliotis said.

“We express our deepest concerns regarding the continued detention of Mr al-Araibi and urge the Thai government to respect Hakeem’s refugee status and to take steps to facilitate his immediate release so that he can be safely reunited with his wife and rebuild the new life the Australian government has granted him.”

Amnesty International Campaign: Save Hakeem – Tell Thailand to release refugee footballer

#SaveHakeem

Background information

Mr al-Araibi fled Bahrain in 2014 after he was convicted in an unfair trial of vandalising a police station, even though he said he was abroad and playing in a televised football match at the time.

He has been detained in Thailand since he arrived in Bangkok for a holiday with his wife on November 27, 2018.

On February 4 Mr al-Araibi appeared in court, denying the Bahrain extradition request and refusing to be sent back. He will be remanded in prison until he appears in court again on April 22.

There are fears that, if extradited, the Australia permanent resident will face the death sentence in his home country.

The Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights said that harsh sentences handed down last month — including death sentences against political detainees and a life sentence against the country’s opposition leader — were a serious indicator of what was waiting for Mr al-Araibi if extradited to Bahrain.

It said there were currently over 4,000 prisoners of conscience in Bahrain. Eleven citizens died as a result of torture in Bahrain’s prisons in 2017.

Mr al-Araibi has already described being tortured in Bahrain before his arrival in Australia. He said after his arrest in November 2012 security forces “blinded me. They held me really tight, and one started to beat my legs really hard, saying, ‘You will not play soccer again. We will destroy your future.’”

Mr al-Araibi’s public comments, in addition to concerns raised by the United Nations Committee Against Torture, lends credibility to Mr al-Araibi’s fear of being subjected to torture once again should he be returned.

In its 2017 report, the committee states it was “concerned that there continue to be numerous and consistent allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment of persons who are deprived of their liberty in all places of detention”.

The UN committee expressed concern over numerous and consistent allegations of widespread torture in Bahrain and “the climate of impunity which seems to prevail”.

The GCM is a historic opportunity for global cooperation on issues surrounding international migration. On December 10 and 11, the GCM will be adopted by over 180 UN member states at an intergovernmental conference in Marrakech, Morocco.

All countries in the Asia-Pacific region will be signatories with the exception of Australia.

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Australia’s Director, Carolina Gottardo, who attended most of the consultations and negotiations as a civil society representative said, “This public letter is a powerful demonstration of civil society’s disappointment and concern about the Australian government’s recent decision to withdraw from the Global Compact on Migration. We will continue to hold the Australian government to account on these kinds of decisions.”

She said, “For the Australian government to suggest that we do not need the rest of the world to manage the inherently international phenomenon of migration is puzzling. No country can address migration on its own. Adopting the Global Compact on Migration is the right thing to do if we want to fulfil our humanitarian obligations and improve our cooperation with states in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.”

Among the other signatories are the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), the Federation of Ethnic Community Councils of Australia (FECCA), the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and Amnesty International Australia.

Paul Power, Chief Executive Officer of the Refugee Council, said, “The Global Compact seeks to build international cooperation on migration matters, recognising the rights of people involved in migration and also the right of sovereign states to set their own policy.

“Any Australian who takes the time to read the Global Compact will be surprised by the political controversy about it, particularly when they see that preamble clearly states its non-binding nature.”

Dr Graham Thom, Refugee Coordinator at Amnesty International, said, “By refusing to sign the Global Compact on Migration, the Government is highlighting how woefully out of step it is with the rest of the world, while at the same time undermining Australia’s national interests by turning away from our region and our ability to work constructively to provide genuine solutions for people on the move.”

Please see the full text of our public letter.80.35 KB

List of signatories (in alphabetical order):

Access CEO Gail Ker with SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis

While Access will come under the umbrella of SSI, it will continue to provide the same valuable local and state-wide services for clients in Queensland.

SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said, “This is a great alliance which will build on the already strong collaboration between our organisations and enable us to work together to deliver programs and services for clients and the community.

“Access has made a considerable contribution to the settlement and wellbeing of newly arrived Australians over the last three decades and we’re proud that we are joining forces, particularly as demands in the community grow.”

Gail Ker, who will continue as Access’ CEO and lead the team in Queensland, said, “The partnership with SSI is the start of a new chapter for Access and we are excited to be part of a larger community organisation that develops and delivers a broad range of services and programs for vulnerable communities.”

About Access

Access Community Services has decades of experience in the provision of settlement, employment, training, youth support services, housing and social enterprise opportunities with a focus on support for migrants, refugees and Australian-born clients, with services delivered across Queensland.

 

The amended bill before the Senate will impose a four-year wait to access Newstart, hurting people most in need. It will also, for the first time, impose a one-year wait to access Family Tax Benefit Part A, which is a crucial payment for low-income families, including families without paid work and families on the minimum wage trying to give their children the best start in life.

Violet Roumeliotis, SSI CEO, said the proposed cuts would hurt already vulnerable communities at a time they needed support the most.

“Investing in new arrivals and offering support to vulnerable communities has been a key determinant of our success as a multicultural nation, contributing to social cohesion. There is no justification for cutting off support for people, including children and families, who are in financial need,” she said.

“In our experience, the great majority of migrant families hit the ground running and are keen to work and contribute but we do need a reasonable safety net for people.”

SSI urges Labor to join the Greens, Centre Alliance and Tim Storer in opposing the bill in the Senate, to protect people from falling further into poverty.

In recent weeks, the Taliban has waged a sustained attack on Hazara villages in Khas Uruzgan, Malistan and Jaghori districts, resulting in the death of many men, women and children and the kidnapping or displacement of thousands, including family members and relatives of thousands of Hazara Australians.

SSI has many members of the Hazara community among its staff, volunteers and clients, and is well aware of the acute anguish news of these events has caused.

SSI believes that the Australian Government, as a major contributor to international efforts for stabilisation and reconstruction of Afghanistan since 2001, can play a vital role in urging the National Unity Government of President Ashraf Ghani and NATO’s Resolute Support Mission to act to ensure the safety and security of the Hazara people.

Without an immediate and coordinated national and international response, Taliban forces are free to commit mass atrocities against the Hazaras, with an escalation of violence and further displacement.

Specifically, we request the Australian Government use its influence to urge the National Unity Government in Afghanistan and NATO’s Resolute Support Mission to take the following measures:

Furthermore, we ask that the Australian Government:

SSI calls on the Australian Government to show leadership in responding to this escalating humanitarian crisis and offers its condolences to families in Australia who have been deeply affected by these devastating attacks.

The panel will consider “the current rate of population growth and infrastructure pipeline” and “how long is needed for infrastructure to catch up with population growth rates”.

In her NSW Premier’s announcement of population review, the Premier renewed her call for net overseas migration levels to return to more sustainable Howard-era rates until a proper population policy is put in place.

She said, “It is becoming increasingly clear that the current high rates of population growth are putting even more pressure on our infrastructure.”

A “Howard era” benchmark — when NSW’s net migration averaged at 45,000 people per year under the Howard government — would require halving the current levels, which have averaged above 100,000 for the past two years.

SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said, “Discussions about levels of immigration are essential in an inclusive and democratic country like Australia, however we do not want to compromise our successful multicultural cohesion by focusing only on impacts to planning and infrastructure.”

Ms Roumeliotis said while Ms Berejiklian believed, “NSW’s economic success is attracting a far greater share of total immigrant numbers than it has in the past” she also needed to acknowledge that much of that economic success could be attributed to the migrant population.

She said, “Migration has clear economic and social benefits for Australia. Australia’s migration levels prevented our economy going into a technical recession after the World Financial Crisis.

“The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report Migrant Intake into Australia (2016) found that with net migration at the historic average rate, GDP per person is projected to increase by some 7% relative to zero net overseas migration by 2060.”

Ms Roumeliotis said there were planning pressures in any big city but “we must remember that migrants come to Australia with high levels of social and economic capital and a strong willingness to contribute and, further, have shaped modern Australia since World War II.”

She said SSI supported the Productivity Commission’s recommendation that, in determining migrant intake, the Australian government should give greater consideration to the implications for planning and investment and that State and Territory governments should develop detailed infrastructure plans that are consistent with population growth.

She said SSI also agreed with the Productivity Commission’s recommendations that the Australian government:

However, Ms Roumeliotis said, “Planning of population levels and infrastructure should involve all levels of government and other stakeholders, including industry and employer bodies, education and training providers, other service providers, academia, planners and representatives of relevant migrant and other community groups.”

Settlement Services International has co-hosted the International Metropolis Conference held this week in Sydney.

 
SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis and Professor Peter Shergold

When asked about his involvement in the panel he told the 700-strong audience:

”We need to take an evidence-based approach to ascertain how much of the problem is one of urban infrastructure and how much of it relates to temporary and permanent migration.

”I look forward to gathering a range of opinions and data to assist in making recommendations to the Premier.”

Premier Berejiklian announced on Wednesday that she wanted the state to return to “Howard-era immigration levels”, which would mean halving the state’s migrant intake, due to concerns about population expansion.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the current high rates of population growth are putting even more pressure on our infrastructure,” she said.

The International Metropolis Conference, Sydney is the largest migration and multicultural event in the world. It continues until Friday, November 2.

Speaking yesterday at the International Metropolis Conference, held in Sydney this week, Professor Castles said, “While 28 per cent of our population comes from overseas, it’s always been that the latest group is to blame for the problems we face on the day.

“In the ’50s it was the Italians and Greeks, in the ’60s it was the Vietnamese who were blamed for crime, the drug trade and so on.”

Professor Castles’ message was timely as yesterday the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced that, due to concerns about population expansion, she wanted the state to return to “Howard-era immigration levels”, which would mean halving the state’s migrant intake.

She appointed a three-member panel to develop a NSW population policy to take to the federal government next year.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the current high rates of population growth are putting even more pressure on our infrastructure,” she said.

As reported in The Guardian (October 31, 2018), permanent arrivals in Australia are the same as in the time under Prime Minister John Howard, however net overseas migrant arrivals have been driven by students, tourists and skilled migrants.

On the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, Professor Castles said that, while those groups received a lot of attention, they only constituted a very small part of Australia’s intake; the largest part was from skilled migration, people with permission to come here, work and stay permanently.

“We have to change the perception that economic migration is good and persecuted migration is bad — it is terribly short-sighted. Across the world, there are 30,000 people a day who must leave their homes to seek asylum, and Australia only takes roughly 15,000 people a year.

“Refugees have made a huge contribution to economy and society, and it isn’t fair not to recognise that.

“Australia used to be a leader in human rights, and now we have become a leader in violating human rights.”

The International Metropolis Conference, Sydney is the largest migration and multicultural event in the world. It continues until Friday, November 2.

Tolu Olubunmi: the stories of the seekers of truth, and the curators of change, make the biggest impact.

World-renowned expert on migration research, Professor Ian Goldin from Oxford University, revealed fresh evidence of the impact of migration for growth of economies, fiscal costs and benefits at the International Metropolis Conference.

Professor Goldin’s research, conducted in conjunction with Citi, found that across the globe migrants are:

The report, Migration and the Economy: Economic Realities, Social Impacts and Political Choices, throws light on the growing disconnect between public perceptions of migration and the actual trends.

In many advanced economies, migration has become a toxic issue in election campaigns and political debate, however the authors’ fiscal analysis shows no evidence of the negative perceptions of the impact of migration.

Migrant advocate and entrepreneur, Ms Tolu Olubunmi, said, while the statistics painted the picture, it was the “stories of the seekers of truth, and the curators of change” that made the biggest impact.

“The free movement of people is not a problem to be solved, but rather a human reality to be managed,” she said. “There are 244 million international migrants, 65.3 million of whom have been forced from their homes, and 21 million are refugees.

“Rather than trying to work out what the statistics mean, I focus on the individual lives hidden in the shadows of the numbers. I focus on the fathers and the mothers, the employers and the employees, the displaced and the determined.”

As a child, Ms Olubunmi was brought to the USA from Nigeria. After completing her chemical engineering degree, she discovered she didn’t have the legal status to work in her profession. This crushing blow, inspiring her to take action.

“Being able to live your best life, is sometimes determined by having a certain piece of paper. I had a clear choice, to leave the fate of my life to others who were much more powerful than me, or to be part of the solution and start advocating to change the USA law.”

She was the first, and only, “DREAMer” working full-time advocating for access to legal status and higher education for migrant youth in the USA.

Her intuitive knowledge of effectively shifting culture, coupled with an unrelenting pursuit of the technical skills necessary to build and message movements, launched a career that took her from The National Immigration Law Centre to the Obama White House and then the world stage.

Violet Roumeliotis, CEO of Settlement Services International (SSI), conference co-chair and current Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year, said Australia’s conversation around migration and multiculturalism drew a sharp dichotomy.

“One on hand we have generous resettlement programs, and a strong history of welcoming people, however, we’ve also had the White Australia policy and have drawn international criticism of our offshore processing program.

“We live within a complex global environment, and there is no such thing as ‘business as usual’ in migration.

“We have world experts, people with lived experience and policy makers together in this unique think tank here at Metropolis. We want you to come up with new ideas, be challenging and be challenged,” said Ms Roumeliotis.

The International Metropolis Conference (www.metropolis2018.org.au) is being held at ICC Sydney, October 29 – November 2, 2018.