The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute (BMI) has partnered with Melbourne's Wheeler Centre to host a series of community discussions, bringing a variety of speakers to the city to investigate topics of public interest and concern.
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The first talk, titled Local Lens: Refugees in Regional Australia, is on Wednesday November 20. It features well-known human rights advocate and lawyer Julian Burnside AO QC speaking alongside Ballarat refugee community mentor Deruka Dekuek and aged care worker Akua Ed Nignpense on issues facing refugees in regional Australia.
Ms Dekuek works within Ballarat supporting the diverse refugee and migrant communities, while Ms Ed Nignpense is with Aged Care at Ballarat Health Services, and in Ballarat Community Health, where she works with refugees and asylum seekers.
They will consider how the tenor of debate in Canberra, and the nature of policies affecting humanitarian immigrants, affect the daily lives of refugees in places like Ballarat. How does it impact the capacity for local communities to provide the support refugees need?
Ballarat is Victoria's fastest growing regional city and a designated Refugee Welcome Zone. The city has a diverse, active migrant and refugee community, and strong support from local leadership.
On a global and national scale, our humanitarian performance is under constant scrutiny. How are we performing locally? Are asylum seekers coming to Australia getting adequate support and a chance to thrive in their new communities?
- Paula Nicholson, BMI
The BMI's Paula Nicholson says the partnership is an incredibly exciting opportunity for the organisation and for the people of Ballarat in general to explore issues in a public forum.
"This discussion at the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute will consider a global issue through a local lens," says Ms Nicholson.
"Mass human displacement is one of the most complex ethical and legal global challenges of our time. Australia's response to asylum seeker arrivals has attracted controversy over the years, including criticism from the United Nations.
"Last year, the federal government commissioned a report into integration, employment, and settlement outcomes for refugees and humanitarian entrants. We're still awaiting the results of this report.
"On a global and national scale, our humanitarian performance is under constant scrutiny. How are we performing locally? Are asylum seekers coming to Australia getting adequate support and a chance to thrive in their new communities?"
Tickets for Local Lens: Refugees in Regional Australia are $10 plus a one-off transaction fee of $4.00 per order, with $2 from each ticket going to Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council and Centre for Multicultural Youth Ballarat. Ms Nicholson says the Wheeler Centre is taking on most of the costs associated with the forum.
"For us it represents the opportunity to bring world class speakers to Ballarat whilst keeping the cost down to the attendees," Ms Nicholson says.
"This is a fabulous outcome and we are currently finalising the other three events for 2020 to complete this first series."
For more on the series and tickets: https://www.wheelercentre.com/events/local-lens-refugees-in-regional-australia
Julian Burnside AO QC is an Australian barrister who specialises in commercial litigation and is also deeply involved in human rights work, in particular in relation to refugees. He is a former president of Liberty Victoria, and is also passionately involved in the arts: he is the chair of Melbourne arts venue fortyfivedownstairs, and is chair of the Mietta Foundation.
He has published a children's book, Matilda and the Dragon, as well as Wordwatching, a collection of essays on the uses and abuses of the English language, and Watching Brief: reflections on human rights, law, and justice. He is also the editor of From Nothing to Zero, a compilation of letters written by asylum-seekers held in Australia's detention camps.
Deruka Dekuek works within the local community of Ballarat, supporting the diverse refugee and migrant communities there. She embraces the different social and cultural experiences and diversity of her life in Australia and has been excited to work regionally. She currently works with the Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council, where she assists refugees and migrants to connect with support providers and find work opportunities.
She is also an ambassador for CARE Australia, an international humanitarian aid organisation fighting global poverty. She is the mother of five children and has completed a Masters in Development Studies at Victoria University.
Born in South Sudan, she and her family went into hiding in the bush for seven years to escape the violence of the civil war. At the age of 14 she left the war-torn country with her family and arrived in Australia at the age of 16, the family having been granted refugee settlement visas. It was only then that Ms Dekuek was able to begin her education. She later gained a Certificate in Aged Care in Community Services and then a Bachelor of Arts degree from Victoria University.
Ms Dekuek is a passionate community advocate and mentor, particularly to young women and girls. She shares her own lived experience, including the hardship and suffering, in order to assist others and believes in the importance and power of education. Raised within the traditional cultural structure of a Sudanese family, she has 35 siblings and was the first female of her family to graduate.
Akua Ed Nignpense was born and raised in Ghana. She's a nurse/midwife with over 30 years of experience working in hospitals and with various levels of communities.
She later travelled to the UK, where she gained a Masters degree in Public Health. Ms Ed Nignpense migrated to Australia with her family and settled in Ballarat in 2008. Currently, she works in Aged Care at Ballarat Health Services, and in Ballarat Community Health, where she works with refugees and asylum seekers.
