By Brendan Rees
Casey’s youth community came together to discuss their experiences of cultural diversity, at a roundtable event hosted by the Centre for Multicultural Youth and the Scanlon Foundation.
The event, held at Bunjil Place on Friday 17 November was in response to issues raised in the Scanlon Foundation’s “Young adults and cultural diversity: Experiences and challenges discussion paper”, released in September.
Attendees – including local young people and representatives from local council, community and business sectors – discussed topics including immigration, multiculturalism, discrimination and political engagement.
CEO of the Scanlon Foundation, Anthea Hancocks, said the roundtable was an opportunity to add Casey’s voice to a national conversation on cultural diversity.
“They were very informative and very articulate which was really great. They talked about their life journey and sometimes the issues that young people, especially newly arrived young people might have in having to deal with the intergenerational aspect,”
“Our goal is to discuss Casey’s perspective on how local young people are interacting with cultural diversity – particularly given its unique, multicultural community.”
She said the event provided an opportunity to hear first-hand experiences from the young people to help “inform and generate constructive, broader conversations.”
Hampton Park resident Aref Ramazani who sought asylum in Australia in 2009 and was also one of the three youth who attended the event said it was a “great start” towards the “future and better community.”
“We discussed youth connectedness, social cohesion and what works for young people at round table discussion at Bunjil.”
He said he presented his research on barriers and challenges of youths from migrant refugee backgrounds.
“I also talked about my perspective and experience on cultural diversity and political engagement.”
“There were a lot of people from different organisations, for example Centre for Multicultural Youth CEO Carmel Guerra. Having such people at the round table discussion was very engaging and useful, because they work directly with young people and she had a lot of valuable contribution to the meeting.”
He said many young people were politically involved in the recent marriage law postal survey.
“More young people are engaging in politics. They want to take on the role and responsibilities and have a role in shaping their future.”
Mr Ramazani said one of the “most amazing” events he had attended was the Victorian Youth Summit.
“Hundreds of young people gathered together to unite and voice their concerns and work together for a better future.”
“Young people are the future of this country and therefore the government should invest in them. We should give more power to young people.”
