While much political discourse takes place online these days, it’s clear there is still an appetite for town hall meetings.
We were delighted with the turnout and robust discussion at our Election Forum last week, where we were pleased to receive overwhelming support for our State Election Platform. MPs from across the spectrum
responded to the recommendations in our Platform and took questions from our passionate audience about issues important to multicultural communities. We thank our guest speakers Parliamentary Secretary for Housing Sheena Watt MP, Shadow Treasurer David Davis MP, Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam MP and Reason Party leader Fiona Patten MP, who all acknowledged the important role multicultural organisations play in supporting migrant and refugee communities.
There was widespread support at the Forum for our call for a new Victorian multicultural strategy, which takes a co-designed, whole-of-government approach to engaging and supporting migrant and refugee communities. Central to this is our call for coordinated, responsive and equitable funding for the multicultural sector that puts an end to the current model of drip-funding.
We welcome the commitment made by David Davis that if elected, the Coalition would substantially increase annual funding for ECCV over the next four years, in order to enhance our capacity to meet growing demand for support and advocacy.
ECCV continues to advocate for the government to build long-term capacity through greater investment across the multicultural sector.
It has been heartbreaking to see the devastation in flood-affected areas across the state and we hope the worst is now over. We applaud volunteers who lend their time and energy in these times of crisis, but this latest natural disaster has highlighted that multicultural communities need to be engaged in a coordinated emergency management process before another crisis occurs. In Shepparton, we have again seen the need for multicultural communities to be part of the response at the local level to ensure effective emergency communication and culturally appropriate support. This is a key recommendation in our Platform.
We are pleased with the Premier’s announcement of continued support for the Multicultural Emergency Management Partnership, but we are also calling for dedicated funding for regional multicultural emergency management.
We must use the learnings from the pandemic to create a new paradigm. Our multicultural communities cannot continue to be an afterthought. That’s why a new multicultural strategy for Victoria must be a priority.
With Victorians going to the polls in 29 days, we hope to see more election commitments to support our multicultural communities over the next four years.
Eddie Micallef, Chairperson
SHARING | in $200,000 government grant
We welcome the announcement made by the Victorian government this month that ECCV, along with four regional partners, will share in more than $200,000 from the latest round of funding from the Priority Response to Multicultural Communities program. The grants will be used to upskill workers to provide pandemic recovery services for migrant and refugee communities statewide.
Read more here.
RECEIVED | Victorian Multicultural Award Winners
ECCV Board Member, Mohammed Yassin, won an Education Award at this week's Victorian Multicultural Awards for Excellence for his work on Harmony Champs, an anti-racism program run with Shepparton Lighthouse. Congratulations to Premier's Award for Harmony winner, Maria Dimopoulos AM, and all award recipients, including our members, Spectrum and Professional Migrant Women.
GATHERING | State Election Forum 2022 a success
More than 130 people attended our State Election Forum last week, where we received whole-hearted support for our State Election Platform. Brunswick Town Hall was abuzz with energy during the Q&A, where many great questions were asked of our guest speakers, MPs Sheena Watt, David Davis, Fiona Patten and Samantha Ratnam.
GATHERING | 10th Walter Lippmann Memorial Oration
The Hon Tony Pagone AM KC delivered a thought-provoking speech at our 10th Annual Walter Lippmann Memorial Oration earlier this month. Mr Pagone reflected on growing up as the child of Italian migrants in 1960s Australia, his experiences as a lawyer and judge, the importance and challenges of building an inclusive multicultural society.
LAUNCHING | National Speak My Language podcast
ECCV was pleased to be part of the national launch of the Speak My Language (Disability) podcast series in Sydney earlier this month. Our Victorian SML team produced more than 100 episodes about living well with disability. The launch included a panel of SML participants who shared their stories, including Yousif Assafiri, coordinator of our Raise Our Voices disability advocacy project.
PRESENTING | At Department of Health forum
Earlier this month, ECCV delivered a presentation at the Department of Health's Community Capacity Building Forum on our COVID-19 Multicultural Outreach. Project coordinator, Shivani Sharma, spoke about the positive outcomes from our multilingual community engagement programs, as well as learnings from the challenges faced and recommendations for enhancing future grant design and partnerships.
CONNECTING | Through Community outreach for Anti-Poverty Week
Our Multicultural Outreach team had a great time connecting with locals at the Anti-Poverty Week event held last week by the City of Greater Dandenong. The team spoke with community members about ECCV's outreach work, including how our bicultural workers are assisting people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to apply for the state government's Power Saving Bonus.
CELEBRATING | Victoria's unsung heroes: carers
Carers working with ECCV's Recognising and Respecting Carers project were pleased to join us at the Victorian Carers Forum, which took place on 4 October as part of Carers Week. It was a celebration of the important role of unpaid carers in caring for a loved one, an opportunity to hear from leaders in the care sector, connect with other carers, and hear about how carers can help shape the development of a new Victorian Carer Strategy.
INVITING | Connections through Multicultural Mental Health Network
ECCV will be launching the Victorian Multicultural Mental Health Network in late 2022. The Network will be a platform for key agencies, community organisations, researchers, clinicians, advocates, and people with lived experience to connect and collaborate on promoting the mental health needs of people from migrant and refugee backgrounds.
SUPPORTING | Power Saving Bonus program
Bicultural workers in ECCV's Outreach team are assisting Victorians from migrant and refugee communities to apply for the state government's Power Saving Bonus program. The Bonus is a one-off payment of $250 available to all Victorian households, including concession cardholders who claimed the Bonus in an earlier phase of the program.
HEARING | Your say: Pre-Budget Submission
We are seeking input from our members and stakeholders to inform the advocacy priorities for our forthcoming Pre-Budget Submission 2022-23. If you would like to share your thoughts on the areas that should be addressed in next year's Victorian Budget, we encourage you to fill in our short survey here.
ISSUING | Spring edition of Golden Years out now
Have you seen the latest issue of Golden Years, our triannual eMagazine for the multicultural aged care sector? The Spring edition features articles about our State Election platform recommendation promoting positive ageing, a review of the final report of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Older People from Migrant and Refugee backgrounds, aged care staffing challenges, the 40th Victorian Seniors Festival and more.
MORE:
Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria (ECCV)
Address: Suite 101, 398 Sydney Road, Coburg Vic 3058
Tel: (03) 9354 9555
Email: eccv@eccv.org.au
Website: https://eccv.org.au