Network delivers for Refugees and Migrants making their home in NSW

Network delivers for Refugees and Migrants making their home in NSW

NSW Settlement Partnership, a dynamic network of leading organisations, led by Settlement Services International (SSI), is celebrating seven years of supporting refugees and migrants to settle in Australia.

The network includes 21 organisations who work together to empower refugees and migrants to thrive independently, socially and financially in their new home.

It has delivered staggering results since its inception in 2015. Collectively, the partnership has supported 185,886 clients via 546,628 instances of service across 88 Local Government Areas. Clients from 177 client countries/cultures speaking over 160 ethnic languages have been assisted on their journey to settlement.

Consortia members include the leading migrant resource centres (MRCs), multicultural services and ethno-specific agencies. Together they deliver settlement services under the Department of Home Affairs’ Settlement Engagement and Transition Support Program (SETS).

Violet Roumeliotis, CEO, SSI, says the partnership is a driving force for the SETS Program with its goals front-of-mind for each of the organisations.

“We are incredibly powerful together, leveraging grassroots experience and the power of a large network. Together, we represent the leading minds in the settlement sector who are all working to achieve mutual goals – the success and independence of refugees and migrants.

“The purpose of the network is to simplify the process of government-funded initiatives, by providing one port of engagement, making us a trusted and reliable government partner.

“We are very proud of our results working in and amongst complex and multi-faceted issues. NSW Settlement Partnership has a reported 91.5% positive satisfaction outcome and a 91.8% overall positive goal outcome,” said Roumeliotis.

Antoinette Chow, CEO of Advance Diversity Services, says ADS is proud to have been part of the NSW Settlement Partnership since its inception because the network enables leaders in the settlement sector to exchange skills and information and to speak with one voice.

‘Ultimately, the network strengthens each of the organisations involved to provide refugees and migrants with a smooth an empowering path to settlement in Australia. Advocating on settlement issues together multiplies our effect.’ 

The partnership offers an innovative service delivery model to address the diverse range of needs of clients, community and government. The NSW Settlement Partnership offers equitable participation in Australian society, promoting social cohesion and productive diversity.

The NSW Settlement Partnership delivers:

  • Professional support and training to the settlement workforce
  • Organisational and governance support
  • Exchange of information, expertise and experience
  • Place-based support and volunteer opportunities
  • Advocacy as one for the settlement sector

Find out more about the NSW Settlement Partnership here.

ADS commended for promoting anti-racism in its sector

ADS commended for promoting anti-racism in its sector

Advance Diversity Services (ADS) has been commended for taking the lead in promoting anti-racism in its work and in sharing the importance of engagement and education in anti-racism with other organisations in its sector.

This commendation comes from the Challenging Racism Project (CRP) of Western Sydney University, which ran four bystander anti-racism workshops in 2021 and 2022 at the request of ADS and which drew 74 participants from 32 organisations.

The training aimed to better inform and equip staff working in the community development and settlement sector to recognise racism and build confidence in knowing how to challenge it.

It was supported by grants provided by Multicultural NSW and Georges River Council and extended to community organisations in the Georges River Council via ADS’s networks.

The workshops provided a range of theoretical and conceptual understandings of racism, impacts of racism and bystander anti-racism intervention, contemporary examples within different sectors of society and media as well as and interpersonal learning via shared experiences.

Participants were also invited to ask questions and share their own experiences throughout the sessions to encourage safe and open dialogue about the issues that mattered to them.

Learning objectives set out for participants were to:

  • Identify and understand interpersonal and institutional racism
  • Understand the impacts of racism
  • Improve awareness of bystander action
  • Develop bystander anti-racism skills
  • Gain bystander anti-racism confidence
  • Foster collegial approach in considering bystander anti-racism responses

The Summary Report from the training workshops notes that:

  • Race-based discrimination is associated with poor mental health and wellbeing, including anxiety, depression, stress and poor quality of life, and
  • Racism has ongoing implications for social cohesion.

The report also notes that a common challenge in tackling racism is the ‘valorisation of the discourse of tolerance, celebrating diversity and promoting harmony’. This can downplay racism in a community, silence those who may have experienced racism, and give the misguided impression that it is not a real issue.

‘It is for this reason that racism and its impacts must be discussed and understood more openly, and on an ongoing basis, to ensure wider awareness in knowing how to identify and disrupt racism in the community.’

It says that where governments around the world promote and rely on policies of multiculturalism and active migration programs, there must also be an investment and engagement with anti-racism.

‘Proactive measure can be taken at all levels of governance and community to support social cohesion, belonging and citizenship.’

ADS has provided a number of opportunities for colleagues in its sector to have dialogue and training to challenge and disrupt racism via bystander anti-racism training.

Anti-racism training is important

Evaluation of the training included pre- and post-workshop surveys which gleaned participant responses on a range of issues, including pro-diversity, anti-racism literacy, confidence in bystander anti-racism, institutional commitment to anti-racism and to perceived benefits of the workshops.

The surveys found that the bulk of participants appreciated the opportunity for further learning and discussion of anti-racism.

As one workshop participant said, ‘I think it’s extremely important to have strong workplace policies and procedures in place to deal with racism.

‘Training options such as this workshop are very important to ensure staff are made aware of what racism looks like, that it has no place in our society and to keep knowledge and skills up to date.

‘While it’s important for us all the take personal responsibility to ensure we address racism, including our own, this needs to be supported by positive modelling from all levels of government, and a whole of society approach.’

Response to the survey question, ‘Do you feel your workplace and/ or manager would support you to respond against an incident of racism?’ was identified as the biggest area of concern.  

‘Despite the majority of 81 per cent of participants responding in the affirmative,’ the report states, ‘a sizeable cohort of 19 per cent were unsure and responded “maybe”.

‘It would [therefore] be beneficial for participating organisations to consider what policies they have in place to ensure cultural and racial safety and how these policies and processes are communicated with staff to ensure full confidence.’

Another question that elicited responses of concern was, ‘How would you rate your confidence in knowing how to respond to an incident of racism?’ Despite the fact that the majority of respondents have a good grasp of racism and it’s impacts, their answers showed this does not translate consistently into having the confidence to know how to respond to an incident of racism.

The report says the majority of participants (pre-workshop) were well-informed and empathetic about issues relating to diversity and racism but achieved further learning through the training workshops. It also says participants valued the chance to have conversations in a safe and guided space, to revisit anti-racism issues and to update their knowledge of anti-racism as it relates to their work and community engagement.

The CRP team encourages all organisations who engage in bystander anti-racism training to consider anti-racism policies, interventions and learning in a holistic way to ensure key issues are addressed in a coordinated manner.

Such training would continue to build awareness and confidence for staff in the sector to better respond to racism in the community and support their clients if they experience racist incidents, its report said.

CRP also acknowledges ADS role in better equipping staff who service culturally and linguistically diverse communities with up-to-date knowledge in the area of anti-racism.

‘ADS have demonstrated their leadership in opening up an opportunity for colleagues in their sector to have dialogue and training to challenge and disrupt racism via bystander anti-racism training.’

Download the Bystander Anti-Racism Training Summary Report May 2022 by Zarlasht Sarwari here.

Meeting with MP broaches a raft of refugee issues

Meeting with MP broaches a raft of refugee issues

Mark Coure MP, Liberal member for Oatley in the NSW Parliament, discussed a wide-range of migrant and refugee issues when he met with senior executive staff and board members of Advance Diversity Services (ADS) in the ADS offices on May 5.

Antoinette Chow, CEO of ADS thanked Mr Coure for the free RAT (rapid antigen test) kits and the emergency relief for temporary visa holders he had helped to facilitate in his role as Minister for Multiculturalism.

She said that without this COVID-related assistance:

  • Many CALD people in the region, who do not qualify for government benefits, would have struggled to access RAT tests and find support in understanding how to use them.
  • Many vulnerable temporary visa holders in the region who were facing financial hardship as a result of COVID-19 would have been without vital supplies, including medical support, emergency food and supplies, transport and essential housing. 

Mr Coure acknowledged the continuing importance of ADS’s Learn to Drive Program after hearing an update from Anthony Scerri, Manager of Settlement and Community Services, about this driver education program for recently arrived refugees and migrants.

Mr Scerri said that while funding received from Transport NSW had facilitated an effective rollout, top-up funds would be required to keep the program running given the rising cost of fuel and vehicle upkeep.

Mr Scerri also broached building a stronger LGBTIQ network in the St George and Sutherland region, to which Mr Coure said ADS could find helpful details to assist with this in the NSW LGBTIQ Health Strategy and to seek the support of local councils and peak bodies.

MP Mark Coure (centre) met with staff and board members of ADS on May 5.

To help build links between CALD and Aboriginal communities in the region, Ms Chow asked Mr Coure to share contacts.

‘We’re asking for educational/support contacts in the area relating to Aboriginal history,’ she said, ‘because we’re hoping that our community groups – which include established and newer migrants – can be educated more effectively about Australian Indigenous history.’

Magdaline Shenton-Kaleido Team Leader, Emerging Communities, Settlement and Community Services for ADS, spoke about the Refugee Council of Australia’s (RCoA) Platform for Change, which outlines key areas that need reform over the next Parliamentary term, as well as three matters requiring immediate attention and action in 2022.

Ms Shenton-Kaleido said ADS was eager to see Australia’s Parliamentarians acting on allurgent refugee issues raised by RCoA but was pressing Mr Coure now to agitate for the repeal of the ‘unnecessary, expensive and unfair’ temporary protection system and for the reinstatement of Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program.

‘The temporary protection system is a legacy of a punitive system to stop the boats, but no longer makes sense,’ she said.

RCoA’s Platform for Change states that: ‘Australia has found more than 19,000 boat arrivals to be in need of refugee protection but has granted them only temporary visas (Temporary Protection Visas or TPVs, and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas or SHEVs), which bars them from ever becoming permanent residents or reuniting with their families.

‘They need to re-apply for protection after three or five years and engage in a full reassessment of their refugee needs, putting a significant and unnecessary burden on the already stretched resources of the Department of Home Affairs. The reassessment process also further harms people as they have to re-live their trauma repeatedly, hampering their ability to settle and move on.

‘When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last year, Australia allocated 31,000 visas for Afghans over the next 4 years, but those who arrived by boat 9 years ago, fleeing the same violence / persecution, will only ever be granted temporary protection. The policy does not make sense anymore because AUS turns back boats now.’

Mr Coure agreed that the temporary protection policy no longer made sense, and would look more closely at the paperwork provided by ADS, including RCoA’s Platform for Change, to determine any action.

Chair of ADS, Ruth Fyfe, thanked Mr Coure for his visit to ADS and for offering to further explore issues raised by staff in the meeting.

Report will assist ADS to extend outreach to CALD LGBTIQ+ communities

Report will assist ADS to extend outreach to CALD LGBTIQ+ communities

Advance Diversity Services (ADS) and the University of Wollongong (UOW) will launch a new report on May 17 which examines the knowledge, skills and attitudes of diversity service workers when servicing culturally diverse LGBTIQ+ communities in the context of COVID-19.

Understanding diversity service workers’ knowledge and skills gap in servicing culturally diverse queer communities is the fruit of a community-engagement project undertaken by ADS and UOW.

The report is intentionally being launched online on IDAHOBIT Day (the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia) which celebrates LGBTIQ+ people globally.


Chief Investigator Dr Quah Ee Ling from UOW will present findings from her team’s research which gleaned (anonymous) responses about gender, sexuality and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) LGBTIQ+ service provision from ADS staff and volunteers.

The report also recommends strategies to address gaps, target diversity training and shape services for CALD LGBTIQ+ communities in the LGAs ADS serves.

‘In June 2020, when we approached the University of Wollongong (UOW), there was evidence to suggest that LGBTIQ+ people were being left behind in the way the government responded to the COVID-19 pandemic,’ says Antoinette Chow, the CEO of ADS.  

‘In fact, we knew the pandemic was magnifying existing inequalities pertaining to employment, mental health, access to health and social services, and safety at home.

‘Simultaneously, we’d observed that CALD queer people hesitated to approach multicultural community organisations for support due to uncertainty about the level of acceptance towards them among CALD local and migrant communities, and whether the services they’d receive would be queer sensitive and friendly.

‘This strengthened our desire to extend our outreach efforts to CALD LGBTIQ+ communities. The UOW Community Engagement Grant enabled us to commission the research and gain the understanding from which we hope to make this possible.’

The research process and findings

Commencing in January 2021, Dr Quah Ee Ling and her research assistants, Dr Jan Filmer and Dr Alexandra Ridgway, used a range of data collection methods, including a survey, focus group discussions and interviews, to investigate:

  • Diversity service workers’ attitudes and concerns towards ADS’s plan to provide support services to CALD queer communities;
  • Diversity workers’ knowledge and skills gap in delivering community outreach initiatives and services to CALD queer communities.

Survey questions focused on the participant’s knowledge of gender and sexuality matters, their attitudes and behaviours towards queer people, and thoughts and potential concerns about ADS extending its services to CALD queer clients and communities.

Survey findings showed:

  • The majority of people sampled held a positive attitude towards gender, sex and sexuality diverse people and believed that the latter should enjoy equal rights as other citizens. These rights include accessibility to employment, service, parenting and public display of couplehood and affection. However, their position towards the rights of children and young people identifying as gender, sex and sexuality diverse was not as clear and straight-forward.
  • The majority held an overwhelmingly positive attitude towards befriending gender, sex and sexuality diverse people.
  • The majority expressed unanimously strong support of their employer moving in the direction of extending services to gender, sex and sexuality diverse communities, particularly CALD LGBTIQA+ people.
  • Many expressed their pride in working with an inclusive and diverse organisation that extends its services to gender, sex and sexuality diverse communities, particularly CALD queer communities.

The research also revealed that some respondents had inaccurate and inadequate understanding, including:

  • Confusion between the concepts of gender, sex and sexuality, for example, when asked what the respondent’s sexuality was, they answered ‘female’, ‘male’ and ‘cisgender’ or when asked what their gender was, they answered ‘straight’ and ‘heterosexual’.
  • Lack of adequate knowledge of less known gender, sex and sexuality expressions and identities such as asexual, intersex, queer, non-binary and transgender.
  • Inappropriate language used when discussing gender, sex and sexuality diverse people, for example, referring to heterosexual people as ‘normal’ and hence revealing an underlying perception that non-heterosexual people are not normal.
  • Reservations about children and young people self-identifying gender, sex and sexuality diverse amongst several survey respondents as they believed these children and young people were merely going through a developmental phase.

Stigmatisation

Most respondents were from CALD migrant backgrounds, including East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, European and South American origins.

Many expressed awareness of the varying degrees of stigmatisation of, and discrimination against, homosexuality and transgenderism among the various multicultural migrant communities they serve.

Several believed that emigrants who had left their home country decades ago had not caught up with the developments to embrace multiple genders, sexes and sexualities back home. These emigrants regarded the celebration of queerness and multiple forms of family in their host country, Australia in this case, as a ‘Western, liberal lifestyle’ that is not of their ‘traditional’, ‘conservative’ cultures. In turn, this means their rejection of homosexuality and queer people is often reduced to and justified as a cultural belief and practice.

‘Acquiring in-depth knowledge of diverse cultural and linguistic groups’ understanding and attitudes towards CALD queer people is key to ADS’s strategy to extend its services to CALD queer people,’ the report said.

What next?

It is clear from the report that many respondents would like to get hands-on, practical and real-life interactions and work experiences with CALD queer clients and communities in order to channel their energies into actual service and to receive on-the-job training and learning.

The report also suggests that enhancing the visibility of ADS as a queer hospitable organisation would send a strong signal of safety and care to queer communities, including CALD queer individuals.

To foster awareness of ADS’s inclusivity, respondents suggested:

  • Organising more public and community outreach events in partnership with local councils, community organisations and queer groups.
  • Including support for queer communities in the organisation’s website, posters, pamphlets, information packs for clients, recruitment advertisements, presentation templates, email signatures and social media.
  • Partnering with other community organisations across various sectors, especially queer groups.
  • Engaging CALD queer and non-queer social media influencers to raise the organisation’s queer hospitable profile among local communities members of the public, partners and clients.
  • Publicising ADS’s queer friendly services to community organisations from various sectors and let them know that they could refer queer clients to ADS for its aged care, disability care and settlement services.

The report also says running joint training sessions and education forums with community leaders and ADS diversity service workers would be helpful in advancing conversations on gender, sex and sexuality.

Ms Chow says the research has helped ADS to understand the social attitudes, knowledge and skills of its diversity service workers and to identify existing gaps.

‘With this comprehensive understanding of our capabilities and limitations, we have a clearer picture of how to develop effective diversity staff training and appropriate community programs and services for CALD LGBTIQ+ communities in our region.

‘The project should also bring practical and important benefits to the wider multicultural community service sector as we disseminate project findings and share ADS’s follow-up training and strategies for community outreach.’

Read the full report HERE

What an egg-cellent idea this Easter!

What an egg-cellent idea this Easter!

Advance Diversity Services has created an oversized egg – more than 1.2 metres high! – to be displayed in Hurstville during the second half of April.

The egg is part of an Easter-themed, community-based project through which 12 large-scale eggs have been custom-designed by core community groups and cultural organisations essential to the fabric of the Georges River area.

An artist from Pier Productions worked with each group’s 2-dimensional design – translating and painting it onto a 3-dimensional egg, bringing the design to life in a striking installation.

Six of the oversized eggs are located in Westfield Hurstville and six in the Hurstville CBD.

From April 12, families are encouraged to follow the egg trail, learn about their community through the eggs as well as their associated signage, video content and photos captured during the egg’s development. 

Families are also invited to vote for their favourite egg, with the winners being announced at the end of the campaign on May 1.

The three eggs with the most votes will receive a cash prize from Westfield Hurstville:

1st Prize: $5,000 | 2nd Prize: $3,000 | 3rd Prize: $2,000 

“ADS has enjoyed being part of this project with its invitation to convey our values and the work we do through an artistic medium,” said ADS CEO Antoinette Chow.

“Our egg features rainbow colours and people from a variety of cultures to show our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“We hope people vote for our egg because they can see we’re ‘good eggs’ here to support and empower some of the most vulnerable groups in our community.”

ADS named Silver Service provider in inaugural Australian awards

ADS named Silver Service provider in inaugural Australian awards

Advance Diversity Services has been chosen as a Silver Service provider in the inaugural 2022 Australian Pride in Health + Wellbeing Awards announced on March 30.  

The awards event celebrated exceptional efforts in improving LGBTQ inclusion within health and wellbeing organisations across the country.

It was produced by Pride in Health + Wellbeing, the national not-for-profit inclusion program for the health, wellbeing, human services, and community care sector, spearheaded by Australia’s largest LGBTQ health organisation ACON.

Claire Allen, National Program Manager of Pride in Health + Wellbeing said: “As our diverse LGBTQ communities continue to face a number of shared and distinct health and social inclusion issues, providers across the board and across the country are demonstrating that they are stepping up to take action to address barriers our communities face in accessing help and support.

“It’s important to acknowledge and celebrate the many achievements that have been made in the greater inclusion of LGBTQ people so that our communities can see where progress is being made.”

ADS Chief Executive Officer, Antoinette Chow said she was proud ADS was named as a Silver Service provider along with the Network of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies (NADA) and WAYSS homeless support program.

“ADS’s commitment to improving access and equity for people who identify with a diverse gender and/or sexuality is both deep and unwavering – and it is good to have our commitment affirmed through this award.

“A recent initiative taken by ADS to foster LGBTQ health and inclusion was working with ACON to expand and update the Multicultural LGBTIQA+ Support Directory – a vital resource for a CALD LGBTIQA+ person to find services and groups that can support their wellbeing.

“We also partnered with Queer Screen to host a subsidised screening of the Australian premiere of The First Girl I Loved as part of the Mardi Gras Film Festival in 2022 – an event I think was beneficial to people’s mental health.”

ADS was proud to be named as a Silver Service provider along with the Network of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies (NADA) and WAYSS homeless support program in the inaugural, live streamed, 2022 Australian Pride in Health + Wellbeing Awards.

Michael Ebeid AM, Co Patron of Pride in Health + Wellbeing, said, “Over the last few years, the status and size of the Health + Wellbeing Equality Index (HWEI) has grown, and it’s exciting to see this event branch out into its own celebration of excellence in LGBTQ Health.

“This not only gives a voice to inclusion within the health and wellbeing sector but increases the visibility and importance of inclusion across the various services within the community, care and human services sectors.”

Inaugural award categories and their recipients were:

  • Service Provider of the Year – cohealth
  • Most improved Service Provider of the Year – Drug & Alcohol Services Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District
  • LGBTQ Inclusive Innovation – Trans and Gender Diverse Healthcare Training Project – St Vincent’s Hospital Network Sydney
  • LGBTQ Out Role Model – Erin Heine – Central Coast Local Health District
  • LGBTQ Ally – Jason Van Ritten – Central Coast Local Health District
  • Gold Service Providers – cohealth Uniting Vic.Tas
  • Silver Service Providers – Advance Diversity Services,
    Network of Alcohol & Other Drugs Agencies (NADA), Wayss
  • Bronze Service Providers – Australian College of Applied Professions: Clinic (ACAP) City Fertility
    Drug & Alcohol Services Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District
  • Flourish Australia Relationships Australia (NSW) + one not for publication