Amplifying Community Voices in the East
Mr HAMER (Box Hill) (10:03): It was a pleasure to join the Eastern Legal Community Centre, IndianCare, the Centre for Holistic Health and the Communities Council on Ethnic Issues to celebrate the Amplifying Community Voices in the East project last week at Box Hill town hall. The project, which was funded from a grant from the Victorian government, aimed to increase cross-cultural understanding and fight racist attitudes and behaviours. The project supported culturally and linguistically diverse community leaders to become anti-racism ambassadors through participation in workshops which focused on challenging racism and sharing their voices and experiences of racial discrimination. Racism is a scourge on our society, and the increase in racism that has been witnessed during the last couple of years has only emphasised the importance of standing up against racism in each of our communities. Combating racism requires strong advocates, and it is by sharing and elevating the voices and experiences of people who have faced racial discrimination that we will ultimately create systemic change. It has been great to see how the Amplifying Community Voices in the East program has been able to build the capacity of community leaders from our culturally diverse communities to become anti-racism ambassadors. Congratulations to the five anti-racism advocates who participated in the project: Dr Chris Mallika Bhadra, Eva Lam, Dr Neha Gogia, Ritu Dahiya and Houng Yu Ngee.