First Nations’ communities are incredible advocates and thought leaders, grounded in an ancient wisdom and deep connection to ancestry, land and sea.

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Now a successful business owner, Mohsen’s story has a happy ending, and on World Refugee Day, he joined with SSI, our partners and other people with lived experience to call for the implementation of five barrier-breaking solutions that would ease the way for newcomers like Mohsen can realise their full potential.

At our World Refugee Day Fair on June 20, we hosted parliamentarians, employers and community partners on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra to launch of the Billion Dollar Benefit report: a roadmap for unleashing the economic potential of refugees and migrants.

We were pleased so many friends and partners were present to formally accept the report, which SSI produced in partnership with the Settlement Council of Australia, the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils, and Community Corporate. You can see some of our highlights from this special day here.

The Billion Dollar Benefit report draws on consultation with 50 experts and people with lived experience, which identified five priority solutions to unleash the potential of migrants and refugees. These include:

  1. We must fix the broken skills and qualifications recognition system. Australia’s current system is complex, time-consuming and bureaucratic.
  2. We need to strengthen protections for migrant workers. No single person should control both your passport and your paycheck – it’s a recipe for exploitation.
  3. We must review the right to work for people on temporary visas. Denying work rights can increase reliance on social welfare and leave individuals vulnerable to exploitation.
  4. We need to scale innovative ‘tripartite’ partnerships. Investing in partnerships among the public, private and NGO sectors would provide wrap-around employment solutions for newcomers to Australia.
  5. We must reform English language requirements. English language requirements must be fit for purpose and aligned with the role and industry.

These actions would provide sustainable employment pathways for newcomers to Australia. They would also plug critical skills gaps and add billions to our economy.

After arriving in a new country, gaining work is one of the most effective ways newcomers can rebuild their lives. However, refugees and migrants face significant hurdles to finding meaningful employment and are at greater risk of exploitation.

Breaking down barriers for our newcomers is a responsibility shared by employers, non-government organisations, unions, refugee-led organisations, and all levels of government.

It was heartening to see representation from across these sectors, with a strong appetite for change.

How you can help

You can show your support by endorsing this roadmap by sharing the findings on social media, and other communications channels or having a conversation with people around you.

If your organisation would like to endorse the report, please send your organisation’s logo to Dane Moores, SSI’s Head of Strategic Relations, at dmoores@ssi.org.au.

We thank everyone who has supported our efforts so far and we look forward to welcoming more organisations and individuals into this community committed to building better futures for Australia’s refugees and migrants.

Together, we can ensure that newcomers have equal opportunities for meaningful economic participation and the chance to realise their full potential in their new homes.

Reconciliation Australia has compiled a list of practical steps we can all take to create change. Click here for information on how you can be a voice for listening, unity, fairness and more.

At SSI, we’re on a journey of reconciliation to ensure we are doing everything within our power to contribute towards realising makarrata – a Yolngu word that means coming together after a conflict.

SSI’s Reconciliation Action Plan has mechanisms for improving our practices, ways of working and engaging with First Nations staff, clients and communities in which we operate.

These have ranged from building more effective community relationships to implementing practices within programs that incorporate lessons on First Nations history and rituals, to taking a public position acknowledging the dual nature of January 26.

We are almost at the two year mark and will soon prepare for a review with Reconciliation Australia, before developing our next two year RAP. We continue to learn valuable lessons the deeper we dive into our actions.

We have learnt that engaging and building relationships with First Nations people – be it staff or external communities, takes much time and many, many cups of tea. In Queensland, for example, our staff have made considerable efforts the last couple of years to consult with and develop a relationship with community elders in one region, working to listen, understand and immerse themselves into community, before creating a dialogue. These efforts are ongoing and the team learn more and more about the community, through each engagement opportunity.

At SSI, there is a genuine appetite and desire to support the RAP and reconciliation efforts across the business. Staff have come forward to contribute in many different forms.

Just recently, we formed a Voice to Parliament working group that was initiated by two staff members. This initiative has grown legs and will see SSI out in CALD communities, conducting forums aimed at educating and assisting people to make an informed decisions when it comes time to vote at the referendum.

There are many different ways to progress reconciliation. Whatever path you chose, I encourage you to take some time this week to reflect on steps you can take to realise makarrata.

For more information, visit the Reconciliation Week website, or click here to read SSI’s RAP.

By the end of 2023, the Australian government will hold a referendum to ask Australians if there should be an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice enshrined in the constitution – a proposal from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, to which SSI is a signatory.

Today, as an organisation, SSI is formally announcing its support for the upcoming referendum by publishing a position statement, approved by the board, in which we fully endorse the Voice to Parliament as a historic opportunity to move our country forward.

As a leading settlement organisation, we welcome newcomers to a place where First Nations people have had a continuous connection to the land for more than 65,000 years, having a rich culture, wisdom and care for the land that has not always been acknowledged or respected, including in Australia’s 122-year-old Constitution. We have an opportunity to change this.

We believe the establishment of a Voice to Parliament presents an opportunity for us to walk with First Nations people, side-by-side, and take a step forward on our journey towards achieving makarrata – a Yolngu word that means coming together after a conflict.

Constitutional recognition through a Voice is a simple but powerful proposal whose time has come. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have great strength and wisdom. These are attributes that must be harnessed in order to meaningfully address the inequality they face and work together to achieve a shared vision of a fairer future for all Australians.

The reality is that even with the best intentions, governments and parliamentarians alone cannot provide lasting solutions without working with First Nations community leaders. A Voice to Parliament would simply ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are able to advise politicians about what really works in their communities before decisions are made.

We recognise that a Voice to Parliament does not present an instant fix for the many and varied issues of inequality facing First Nations communities. Much more needs to be done to realise makarrata – but this is an important practical first step.

While modern Australia celebrates multiculturalism, this appreciation of our rich, diverse communities is a recent advent. Up until the 1960s, Australia sought to achieve a homogenous culture through assimilation policies.

This was particularly devastating for First Nations communities, who lost culture, identity and connection to country through forced assimilation. These policies also affected new migrants and refugees – who were forced to abandon their culture in order to try to belong in their new home.

This treatment has had lasting effects on individuals and communities, which we must continue to acknowledge, even while celebrating the progress we have made towards creating a more cohesive, diverse nation.

There is still much work to be done to achieve true inclusion and appreciation for all cultures, but it is with the benefit of hindsight – and in reflecting on our nation’s complex history – that we can understand and appreciate the true value of celebrations like Harmony Week. This is doubly so in light of Harmony Week’s origin as a local celebration aligned with International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

By embracing our diversity and fostering understanding and respect between cultures, we can create a society where everyone feels valued and respected.

At SSI, we work every day to support migrants and refugees in settling into their new lives in Australia. We know firsthand the challenges that newcomers face, and we are committed to helping them integrate into our society and feel a sense of belonging.

But we cannot do this alone. It takes a collective effort to create a society where everyone feels valued and respected, regardless of their background. We must all work together to build a community where diversity is celebrated, and differences are seen as strengths, not weaknesses.

This Harmony Week, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on the importance of multiculturalism and the role we each play in creating a harmonious and inclusive society. Together, we can commit to working collaboratively to create a future where everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

SSI’s brand – our image and visual identity – traces its roots back to where we began in 2000, as a small settlement agency supporting refugees in Sydney. Fast forward to today, we are a national not-for-profit organisation that offers a diverse range of human services and promotes equal opportunities for all.

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February marks two anniversaries that highlight the generosity and success of Australia’s approach to refugee resettlement.

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The most seismic shift we have seen in our sector over the past two years has been the arrival of COVID-19 and its implications for the individuals and families we support.

Unfortunately, the health consequences of this pandemic have fallen heavily on CALD communities. This was recently affirmed in the Fault Lines report, where Professor Shergold and other colleagues conducted an independent review of Australia’s pandemic response that found people experiencing social inequalities or particular vulnerabilities suffered unnecessarily during the pandemic.

Coming out of the pandemic, there has been great recognition of the strength of community services organisations and community leaders, who stepped up to keep individuals and families informed and safe.

With the effects of the pandemic now dwindling in our communities, the time is ripe for change.

The community services sector is ready and willing to play a more prominent role in forming policy and helping to promote a stronger and more socially inclusive Australia​.

As I said at the DCJ conference, we can bring to the table our insights and solutions, but we also rely on government to drive foundational change that will shift the dial for multicultural communities.

This could include wider application of a diversity lens. For example, strengthening multicultural resources and the use of bilingual resources and organisations into day-to-day departmental work.

There is also an opportunity to introduce more dynamic, iterative mechanisms for engaging with our sector.

Existing boards, councils, and committees play an important role in enabling our sector to contribute to government decision-making, but these are often static mechanisms, pulling feedback from a small number of people, rather reaching to the heart of our sector and communities for a dynamic, two-way dialogue.

It is also important to authentically engage us in co-design during the seeding stage, not later, when the tree has already branched out.

I also believe there is a need for government to ring-fence specialist roles that elevate issues for CALD communities and ensures effective engagement

I do want to reinforce thought this is not about vulnerability. This is not about approaching multicultural communities from a deficit base. Both multicultural communities and the services that support them are strong, innovative, and resilient.

By working collaboratively with government — from service gestation through to delivery — we can fortify our sector and ensure that we are equipped to respond to crises that affect multicultural communities, both now and into the future.

Mahsa’s death while in custody of the country’s morality police has sparked protests across Iran, as both men and women rally against a regime where a young woman can lose her life for failing to wear a hijab in public. These have fanned out to protests globally, as people around the world seek to stand in solidarity with the women of Iran.

As a social justice organisation, SSI has a deep commitment to human rights – to the right to live free from violence, oppression and discrimination. SSI stands with the women of Iran and supports their right to protest injustice and to seek to uphold their basic human rights.

Human rights are universal. They transcend race, culture and gender.

So what can we do to stand in solidarity with the women of Iran? We can educate ourselves about the situation unfolding in Iran. A great starting point is this article from Iranian journalist, Masih Alinejad. We can also use our voices – take to social media to show our support and to amplify the voices of Iranian women, including following the hashtag #Mahsa_Amini. You can also join some of the protests happening in your area.

We all have a right to live free from persecution. Those of us privileged enough to already do so have the right and responsibility to show we stand in solidarity with Mahsa, Masih and all the women of Iran in their fight for justice and equality.

SSI fully supports the recommendations made in the Uluru Statement of the Heart, including an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Prime Minister Albanese has released a draft, simple form of words that could be put to Australians in a referendum, paving the way for First Nations people to take a rightful place in their own country.

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities have an important role to play in supporting this proposal and elevating understanding of the challenges facing community members whose voices are often invisible to mainstream Australia.

There are many synergies between the First Nations and the migrant/refugee experience.

The sense of connection to their land of birth is important to those who leave their homelands to come to Australia – many arriving with a rich cultural and spiritual legacy and deep connections with the land.

Migrants and refugees can also relate to issues of land loss, trauma and being torn away from their people and traditional ways of life.

Those we work with, and many who work for multicultural community organisations, know firsthand what it is like to feel as though they don’t belong.

I’ve seen this in my work in CALD organisations, and in my own family, where many family members struggled to build a connection to mainstream Australia after migrating here from Greece after the second world war.

It is heart-breaking to be misunderstood or discriminated against simply because of difference. Whether that is difference of language, difference of customs, different spiritual beliefs, or different skin colour. We all benefit when our differences are recognised and celebrated. Sense of belonging grows when we are treated equally.

A key role of organisations working in the multicultural space, like Settlement Services International, is to welcome people from all over the world to our country.

We welcome them to a place where First Nations people have had a continuous connection to the land for more than 60,000 years, contributing culture, wisdom and care for the land that has not always been acknowledged, respected or considered.

But we reached a point in time where many of our First Nations people often don’t feel welcomed in their own land.

It is something that cuts to the heart of the experiences of multicultural communities too, where individuals and families often feel cutoff from the mainstream, despite making significant cultural, social and economic contributions to their new homes.

I acknowledge that discussions of constitutional matters can seem complex, and the debate might seem confusing or perhaps even not very relevant to migrants or new Australians who have their own issues to deal with.

However, to use the words of Prime Minister Albanese, it really boils down to ‘common decency, common courtesy and common sense’.

As he says, when governments listen to people, their policies can be more effective. Just as we want politicians to listen to CALD communities from hundreds of different backgrounds, and to understand their needs so that they may live a life where they can achieve their full potential, so we should ask it for First Nations people. It’s the right and decent thing to do.

What can we in the community services sector do then to help support this momentous opportunity for positive change?

Individually, we can reach out to First Nations people and organisations in our local area to better educate ourselves about Aboriginal culture and history. We can incorporate their voice in the work we do, and ensure we engage and hear from them often.

We can recognise that just as the newcomers we work for are from a variety of different nations, First Nations people in this country are from various countries with different customs and protocols. We need to make sure our consultations are place based and incorporate the appropriate cultural awareness.

Each day we can play our part in creating culturally safe places for First Nations people, whether at work or in community.

We can learn more about the Uluru Statement of the Heart and the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and talk to our family and friends about it, so that when the time comes, we can support the referendum.

CALD organisations are uniquely positioned to help educate new arrivals and create allies to the cause.

We can do this by incorporating recognition of First Nations people into our service delivery and encouraging respect and curiosity about the world’s oldest living culture.

CALD groups can support reconciliation by creating a First Nations voice in everything they do, as we are committed to doing at SSI.

SSI fully supports the recommendations made in the Uluru Statement of the Heart and we will play our part in supporting a yes vote in a referendum.

I urge you to join us. It’s time, Australia.