Outstanding volunteer

Award recipient: Ms Janeth Deen

Janeth Deen has been a lifelong champion for community harmony and multiculturalism.

Janeth is currently secretary of the Queensland Multicultural Council as well as president of the Queensland Muslim Welfare Association, through which she runs the Muslim Welfare Shop, the first Muslim Welfare Shop in Australia.

The shop assists members of the broader community, hosts give-away events in the local community, and has also assisted refugees to send items to help those in need in their home countries.

Janeth has helped many refugees through her welfare work, and is a friendly face to those who have settled in the Woodridge area.

Since the 1960s, Janeth has assisted numerous recent migrants and international students to find their comfort zone in their new country.

Janeth’s volunteer work has supported the needs of the community and has benefited many people both in and beyond the Logan area.

Highly Commended:

• Mr Stephen Chomyn
• Mrs Remedios Conway
• Mrs Nasrin Vaziri
• Mr Ricardo Viana

Community organisation (two winners)

Award recipient: Buddha’s Light International Association of Queensland

Buddha's Light International Association of Queensland, which was established in 1992, is based at the Brisbane Chung Tian Temple in Underwood on Brisbane's southside.

With more than 1000 members, the association serves the community through organising multicultural and spiritual activities and charitable programs, providing educational programs and helping those experiencing difficulty.

The association's response to the floods earlier this year typifies how they help those in need. Within days of the floods affecting northern parts of the state, the association organised a $100,000 donation to the Premier's Disaster Relief Fund. When the floods hit Brisbane a few days later, a further $50,000 was raised and was the inaugural donation to the Lord Mayor's Community Relief Fund.

The association leads a range of cultural education initiatives, including coordination of cultural tours of the temple for over 10,000 students and community members annually.

The association is also involved in many events promoting community harmony, from large celebrations such as Buddha’s birthday, through to events such as Tree Planting Day, Clean Up Australia Day, youth camps and providing support to more than 70 charities.

Award recipient: African Communities Association, Gold Coast

The African Communities Association, Gold Coast is a small but dynamic part of the Gold Coast community. The association represents the emerging community of newly arrived and settled migrants, humanitarian entrants, adopted children and tertiary students.

The association's reach, however, extends beyond the local African community to activities and programs that include the wider community. The African Communities Association welcomes anyone who is interested in African culture or in making friends with the African community.

Three key initiatives of the association include: the African Sewing Club; a study of the African community, and Project DiversiTees.

The association keeps the community up-to-date with its activities through a monthly online and print newsletter, and its Facebook and Twitter sites.

Highly commended:

• Gladstone Multicultural Association
• Good Shepherd Parish Multicultural Festival, Mount Isa
• Multicultural Women’s Health Project at Family Planning Queensland
• Women in Harmony

Education

Award recipient: Yeronga State High School

Yeronga State High School on Brisbane's southside is one of Queensland's most multicultural schools, with over a third of students speaking a first language other than English.

The school prides itself on its harmonious culture which celebrates diversity and where students are encouraged to achieve their full potential, and incorporates students of all cultures in its leadership program to create role models for all younger students.

Multiculturalism is embedded in all aspects of the school's operation. This includes policies which support diversity, curriculum which promotes understanding about diverse cultures, and professional development opportunities that promote cross-cultural competency of staff.

Proud of its positive relationships with the community, the school involves parents, guardians and the wider community in school activities and events such as multicultural day and Harmony Day.

The school cites its strong educational and behavioural performance as evidence of the benefits of learning in a supportive, accepting and diverse environment.

Highly commended:

• Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE
• Community Services Skilling Plan

Media (two winners)

Award recipient: Crescents Community News

Crescent Community News, a not-for-profit community e-newsletter, has been serving the Muslim and wider communities of Queensland and beyond since 1994.

The weekly publication covers local and international issues, reports on the achievements or organisations and individuals, and creates awareness of social and political matters affecting the community.

The e-newsletter is read and subscribed to by people from many different communities across many countries and has been widely acknowledged by Muslims and non-Muslims alike as a great way to learn about the activities and achievements of the Muslim community.

The high standard of journalism and website design and production belies the fact that the e-newsletter is put together on a shoestring budget, with the help of volunteer writers and contributors.

Crescents Community News has also played a vital role in linking regional Muslim communities including those in Mareeba, Cairns, Mackay and Townsville through video, audio podcasts and social media forums via the newsletter.

Award recipient: Mr Stefan Armbruster, SBS News

Mr Stefan Armbruster of SBS News prepared 10 television packages covering the natural disasters in Queensland in early 2011. His media coverage incorporated a focus on the disasters' impact on culturally and linguistically diverse communities and community responses in adversity. 

His coverage of the Brisbane floods highlighted suburbs with high refugee and migrant populations and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in evacuation centres.

Stefan's coverage of the Brisbane flood recovery was culturally inclusive and highlighted the Muslim community's efforts in the clean up, collecting donations and organising volunteers.

Stefan’s reporting of the floods consistently demonstrated a strong positive portrayal of Queenslanders from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Public sector

Award recipient: Brisbane City Council for the Diverse Brisbane Project

Brisbane City Council's Diverse Brisbane Project celebrated cultural diversity and provided opportunities for deeper intercultural exchange and understanding between cultural groups.

Throughout 2010 and 2011, Elders, leaders and young people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities joined leaders and young people from emerging communities, and other community members, in various activities aimed at increasing knowledge, understanding and respect between groups.

These activities included elders and leaders intercultural dialogues, cultural and skills development workshops for young people, and participating in Black Diamonds youth camps and intercultural events and ceremonies.

Through these activities, participants from diverse communities and a range of age groups have been able to share social and cultural experiences, as well as build relationships and networks at community level.

Highly commended:

• Safe Driving Initiative (TAFE Queensland and the Department of Transport and Main Roads)
• Brisbane Magistrates Court

Private enterprise

Award recipient: Australia Post, Queensland Diversity and Inclusion

When ACCESS Community Services, a not-for-profit community organisation that settles migrants and refugees, identified that many of their clients were unable to apply for jobs online due to language and computer literacy barriers, they approached Australia Post to find ways to help their clients compete equitably for positions within Australia Post.

In response, the Queensland Diversity and Inclusion area of Australia Post worked with ACCESS Community Services to support a pilot program providing training and information for their multicultural clients to navigate their way through the Australia Post recruitment process. The program focused on training clients wanting to work as postal delivery officers, mail sorters, night sorters and call centre officers.

A number of clients have since successfully gained employment with Australia Post.

Not only have the clients benefited through the pilot program, Australia Post has been able to engage and attract a greater number of candidates from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and promoted diversity in the workplace.

Highly commended:

• Littles Lawyers

Minister's awards

Minister's Multicultural Encouragement Award

Award recipient: Mr Paul Mabior Garang, Project Manager, Awulian Community Development Association, Toowoomba

Paul Mabior Garang has been instrumental in developing cultural understanding between the local Sudanese community and the wider community.

Mr Garang is one of the young people aid agencies dubbed ‘the lost boys of Sudan’, forced to flee their homes when government troops attacked southern Sudanese villages in 1983. Many of these young people were orphaned or separated from their families by civil war.

Mr Garang and nine other Sudanese refugees living in Toowoomba have published stories of their experiences in the book Walking to Freedom.

Awulian community members published the book to help the wider community understand the stories of Sudanese refugees who are now living in Queensland.

As Project Manager of the Awulian Community Development Association, Mr Garang has also helped develop a speakers bureau, through which young Sudanese speak on their refugee experience to high school students, businesses and community groups; and a Big Brother Project, to help members of the Sudanese community manage family and work life in Australian society, particularly young people.

Minister's Multicultural Community Award

Award recipient: Surf Life Saving Queensland

The On the Same Wave program, a joint water safety initiative between the Queensland Government and Surf Life Saving Queensland, aims at promoting water and surf safety messages among culturally and linguistically diverse Queenslanders.

Commencing in January 2010, following a number of drownings involving members of the African community in Queensland, the program has directly communicated surf safety messages to more than 70,000 Queenslanders from CALD backgrounds.

The program includes providing water safety information in 23 languages; holding water safety education workshops for students; promoting surf safety messages at community events and festivals; and holding information sessions to migrants and refugees.

The campaign provides access to beach education classes from trained surf lifesavers, and ensures that people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds receive important water safety information in their first language.