Page 151 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 16 February 2011
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including the promotion of social inclusion and interaction with the vision of the Multicultural Festival. Mr Hargreaves has made a big to-do about the fact that he has not been consulted about these amendments. His office and, in fact, Mr Hargreaves himself were consulted by my staff.
Mr Hargreaves: No, I wasn’t.
MR DOSZPOT: He was given a copy of what we had. Certain amendments have come into play, as often happens in this place, and I have no apology to make in moving the amendment as it stands in my name.
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (12.02): I thank Mr Hargreaves for bringing this motion on today. I think the ACT is a welcoming place for the many ethnic communities who have made this place their home. The ACT does have a history of promoting cultural diversity, be it through supporting migrant communities to settle here or by providing essential services to refugees and asylum seekers. There are countless volunteers who live here in the ACT and give their time and energy to supporting some of our most vulnerable citizens.
I will not mention all the services and community groups in Canberra who provide support for refugees and asylum seekers, but I will mention a few groups who need particular mention in debating this motion today. Mr Hargreaves has already mentioned a couple of those groups. Companion House is an essential provider of counselling and health services for refugees and asylum seekers who have experienced trauma. As we know, a number of refugees who come to this country and to the ACT have been through fairly horrific circumstances which we can only imagine; it is important that we provide these services to them so that they can become a part of the community and become contributing members of the community.
In going to a number of events which have been run by groups such as Companion House and Canberra Refugee Support, let me say that it is absolutely wonderful to see the contributions they make, particularly those of young people. That needs to be acknowledged.
That leads me to Multicultural Youth Services, a base for many young Sudanese, Burmese and other refugee young people who are newly settled into the ACT. They provide housing support and mentoring for many young people. Canberra Refugee Support provides countless hours of free support and is often the first port of call for people settling here. As Mr Hargreaves has already mentioned, it provides a huge amount of hours through voluntary services to people from a variety of backgrounds who come to the ACT. I want to mention a particular scholarship program they run, which I have mentioned before, and the contribution young people make. That program they run is a particularly wonderful program because it does provide young refugees with the opportunity to study and to go on to further areas in the community. I think that is a wonderful thing to see.
These services, and many more, give refugees and migrant communities support to make the ACT their home. The ACT, as I have already said, is indeed a welcoming place and has a long history of respect for cultural diversity. This is not just through
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