2008-2009 has been another eventful year for the Townsville Multicultural Support Group. Unfortunately some of these “events” have meant the disappointment of very skilled professional and valuable staff having to resign. This was particularly the case with the pilot project of the Family Well Being Network’s term of two years expiring and the loss of funding for the Skilling Queenslanders for Work programme. We are grateful to the James Cook University’s School of Social Work for providing the team to evaluate the Family Well Being Network project. They presented a comprehensive and generally positive report which, of course, was duly forwarded to the appropriate authorities as well as to some other Government bodies hoping there would be more finance available to continue this work. Though there has been some lobbying, appealing to other organisations, petitioning and advocacy by local Members of Parliament no funds have so far been forthcoming to enable an employment and training programme like Skilling Queenslanders for Work to be continued. This is a particular disappointment. The Manager’s report will highlight just how successful this programme was in 2008-2009 just as other similar programs run by TMSG have been in the past.

We were all very saddened by the death of Marina Laffratta who had given much volunteering work to TMSG especially preparing the newsletter, helping with the membership data base and Website. May she rest in peace.

One of the major events organised through the Family Well Being Network was the ‘Journey of Connections’ that culminated in talented and creative performances by a number of young budding artists at our end of year celebrations in November. Very many thanks are extended to Lisa Macnaughton for the numerous hours she spent assisting with the organisation of the performance.

Another first this year was a Street Alive party organised in the neighbourhood of 62 Anne Street, Aitkenvale, where most of the new refugee arrivals are housed initially. This programme is a City Council based initiative in which they organize the publicity inviting all the residents in a particular area to gather socially thus meeting and getting to know each other. The Council provides the staff, the food and any appropriate entertainment (e.g. jumping castle and face-painting for children). Several people who live around 62 Anne Street attended this function with refugee families including the one actually in residence (in the house) at that time.

Two of our younger clients in the Refugee Settlement Programme gave clear and moving presentations about their experiences to medical students at James Cook University. Some of these students are interested in Medicines Sans Frontier and one of those presenters is now a student in Medical Science at James Cook University.

Without doubt of course the most important and impressive event for the organisation as well as for the region was the declaration of Townsville as a Refugee Welcome Zone. This was done by Mayor Les Tyrell, OAM, in the presence of seven other Townsville City Councillors, Ms Tamara Domicelj the National Policy Director of the Refugee Council of Australia in Sydney and more than 100 people including many who had come to Townsville as Refugees. After more than 30 years of refugees arriving and settling in Townsville this was truly a landmark day, so 3rd July 2009 will always be a most significant date in the City’s history.

Again this year two days were given to reviewing the work of TMSG, how we are proceeding, especially from a viability aspect, and what expansion of our vision and commitment is possible. For this review we gathered in May at the very amenable, convenient and comfortable venue at the House of Prayer in Pimlico. Volunteering with TMSG was among the very important issues reviewed and discussed in much detail. After some work and discussion with individual staff members, particularly the Volunteer Coordinator, and volunteers a change has been made. This will be formalized at the Annual General Meeting.

During the Review Days several TMSG personnel took advantage of the opportunity to attend the Consultation on Human Rights legislation with the Government-appointed panel who were in Townsville. Many points of special interest were presented verbally to the panel at that public consultation and then later submitted in writing. These included the challenge of isolation for refugees and other new arrivals without public transport, the difficulties experienced by people who come to Australia under the Trans-Tasman Agreement and the embarrassment suffered by non-English speaking background citizens because of their names, religion and communication challenges.

Volunteers are an important part of the organisation and “all the volunteers have given more than the minimum time. They provide an invaluable link for the refugee families to the wider community”. A special word of appreciation to Carmel Cannon who inspires this response in the volunteers. Carmel has also been very busy recruiting, introducing and training new volunteers and we welcome them aboard.

Some TMSG personnel participated in the first ‘Unity in Diversity’ conference held in conjunction with the 2008 Cultural Festival.

With refurbishing programmes happening in some local motels their managements have thoughtfully offered furniture and furnishings, which were being replaced, to TMSG. Though it has not been simple and straightforward to organize the collection, delivery and distribution of the substantial quantity of quite large items, generous clients, volunteers and friends gave invaluable assistance to staff members to do the necessary tasks to achieve this. Several needy families have benefitted by receiving furniture and furnishings of a very high quality.

The TMSG team continues to meet regularly every Monday for 2 hours including lunch. These meetings are something of a melting pot where ideas, experiences, suggestions, programme updates, tasks, etc are all drawn openly and honestly together to facilitate the best decisions and directions for the organisation. The Management Committee is almost always represented at these meetings thus enabling a good two-way communication to be maintained between the Committee and the Team. The Management Committee itself met at least once a month during the year. We urge more people to consider joining the Management Committee because this is an organisation that offers opportunities for its committee members to be quite involved in many projects at several levels including attending DIAC conferences/consultations in a representative capacity.

As I have said in previous years, the Management Committee thanks Meg Davis very sincerely for her generous leadership. Her skills and high standard of professionalism contribute hugely to all TMSG’s programmes and responsibilities. In addition Meg’s commitment and personal dedication to healthy and harmonious multiculturalism in our society are an inspiration to all. In thanking Meg we also wish to thank some other people for their contributions in recent years but who have moved on during this year: Aida David, Peni Toga, Susan Shand, Janelle Evans from the Family Well Being Network and Patti Pattillo from the Skilling Queenslanders for Work programme. Recently, too, we farewelled our very reliable and quite achiever Theresa Wilson, Finance Administrator. Unfortunately Tess is leaving Townsville so wasn’t left much choice about resigning! We are very pleased to welcome Terry Ryan into this challenging position.

To all the current staff, friends and volunteers who continue to be here year after year to share the “events” and “non-events” your skills, and commitment to your various programmes and tasks enable the aims and objectives of TMSG to be met with a high level of expertise and cultural sensitivity. Testimony to this was a positive and encouraging Quality Audit Report by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) for our work in the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy Programme this year. Once again I wish to acknowledge the very special relationship TMSG has with staff of Blessed Mary MacKillop Parish here in Mundingburra. Though some programmes have closed participant numbers for the Friday activities of English classes, sewing, craft and Women’s Group continue to increase. This is not only quite heartening to the organisation but we are pleased to be able to encourage this “growth” because of having access to the Parish facilities in the Fr. Brooks Paterson Centre. So a heartfelt thanks to all the staff there too. We are also grateful to St. Joseph’s School, (Mundingburra) for the occasional use of their undercover area when a particular event requires such a space.

So, 2009-2010 begins with some uncertainty as the Manager’s report will show. However, whether many programs or few, a dwindling budget or not, many or few people, TMSG will continue to be ingeniously resourceful in “reaching out to all people in our community with a view to modeling a truly Multicultural Society “.

Sheila Hawthorn 26th September 2009