The Federation of Equatoria Community Association in Australia is holding their first national conference at the University of Tasmania in Newnham this weekend.
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The conference brings together delegates from South Sudanese communities living in Australia, from 39 ethnic tribes, to officially launch the peak national body advancing the causes of refugees and migrants settling in Australia.
A key focus for the conference is addressing the challenges inherent in the often deeply traumatic experiences new arrivals to Australia had experienced in their home countries, looking at ways to address, support and overcome those challenges.
On Saturday the conference was launched with keynote speaker Susan Neighbour speaking on the challenges and opportunities in health and community, following the official opening by Parliamentary Secretary Sarah Courtney.
“The diverse conference program provides an important opportunity for participants to discuss, and seek solutions for, key issues and concerns facing people from South Sudan in the transition and settlement in their new lives in Australia,” Ms Courtney said.
Topics on the agenda ranged from family and child safety, the new humanitarian settlement program and targeted engagement programs for Sudanese settlers in Australia.
Migrant Resource Centre Northern Tasmania chief executive Ella Dixon spoke of her own experiences as a migrant in the early 1980s, touching on the culture shock and unwelcome drop in temperature her family experienced when they first moved to Smithton in the state’s North-West.
She said it was important for all people settling in Tasmania, including the 26 South Sudanese families in Northern Tasmania, to “remember their roots” and hold on to those connections while building a new life.
Ms Dixon said the present five-year term of intensive government-funded support offered by the Migrant Resource Centre to new arrivals was not long enough, noting that many new residents continued to need support after those five years concluded.
“While our overall goal is independence, we also know the importance of interdependence in achieving the outcomes for the communities,” she said.
“The solutions have to come from within the communities … and the families that are operating them.”
Solutions have to come from within the communities … and the families that are operating them.
- Migrant Resource Center chief executive Ella Dixon
She said the centre would continue to lobby for the extension of the support program to a longer term.
The conference continues on Sunday featuring Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power.
