Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With the few minutes that I have left before question time I would like to talk to the Senate about two students who came up to Parliament House in August. The Students Against Racism group from Tasmania were finalists in the innovation section of the Migration and Settlement Awards, which were announced on 18 August this year. Of course, Labor congratulates the winners and finalists of the Migration and Settlement Awards. The awards are hosted by the Migration Council of Australia. They recognise outstanding individuals and organisations that assist migrants to settle in Australia.

The Tasmanian Students Against Racism group were finalists. Unfortunately, they did not win but there were many fine entrants in the awards this year. The two young women that the Tasmanian senators had an opportunity to meet were Nane Manasseh and Shuang Shuang. They came along to talk to us about the work that the Students Against Racism group were doing.

The Students Against Racism group was established in 2008 to give voice to CALD students who had arrived in Hobart as refugees. The group, under the mentorship of teacher Gini Ennals, developed a powerful presentation that explains why people leave their homeland, the experience of being a refugee and the settlement issues young people have to deal with in Tasmania. The presentation has expanded to include a range of activities, and the group now delivers workshops of one hour to six hours to schools, tertiary education classes and community organisations.

The program that the Students Against Racism group has rolled out explores issues around racism. It uses storytelling and activities that challenge the audience to examine the causes and consequences of racism and how they can combat it. Over 80 young Tasmanians have been trained to deliver the workshops. That is 80 young Tasmanians that have been trained to deliver the workshops and tell their stories. Over the past eight years they have worked with groups across Tasmania and also on the mainland, in Victoria, and they have presented conferences in Sydney and Melbourne. They have developed a film, a play and a range of other presentations and workshops.

I would like to acknowledge and thank them, as would the other Tasmanian senators who met with these two wonderful young women, for the outstanding work that the SAR group do in Tasmania, and also congratulate SAR on the work they have done in rolling out their program across Tasmania. Thank you.