Thursday, 20 February 2020

Refugee Communities Association of Australia

Mr TAK (Clarinda) (09:58): Last Saturday I was delighted to attend the launch of the Refugee Communities Association of Australia Inc. (RCAA). The launch marks the start of a new period of refugee and asylum seeker advocacy, one that will truly amplify the voices of those with lived experience. I would like to congratulate Parsuram Sharma-Luital, JP, Bwe Thay and all those individuals and organisations which have worked tirelessly over the years and made the RCAA dream a reality.

It was back in 2013 that community leaders from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds started to discuss creating an organisation that would provide a much-needed united voice—a platform for refugee communities to work together and raise the voice of the voiceless and to help communities find common ground, support each other and drive social cohesion. The RCAA will draw on the vast resource of communities which have arrived in Australia as refugees and asylum seekers and successfully re-established their life in Australia, and the RCAA envisions strong connections between the more established communities and the new and emerging communities.

I am looking forward to working with the RCAA and with my parliamentary colleagues, with service providers and with the broader community to support the vision of a united voice for refugee communities in Victoria and Australia.