By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Former Greater Dandenong mayor Naim Melhem lay in a hospital bed when he received news of his impending OAM award.
It was a “total surprise” to the cardiac patient, admitted for surgery after a “mild” heart attack. One that made him feel “on top of the world”.
The Medal of the Order of Australia recognises Mr Melhem’s decades of community service, including as a councillor and a board member of Monash Health, churches and chambers-of-commerce.
“You don’t do it for recognition or reward but you do it because you want to do something for the world.”
Mr Melhem says he’s always made time for community work outside of his banking profession.
He’d wanted to give back to a country that had made him feel at home since he arrived with his family from Lebanon in 1977.
Back then, his family came with nothing but built their lives, running cornerstone milk bars and supermarkets.
A teen at the time, Mr Melhem enrolled in an English-language school. He went onto finance post-graduate studies.
Mr Melhem worked as a councillor for the cities of Springvale and Greater Dandenong. As mayor in 1999-2000, he welcomed refugees from Kosovo with open arms.
He directed no pressure on his son Zaynoun, who was elected to Greater Dandenong Council in 2016.
“People said to me why do you push your son to be in local government?
“I always say my son is motivated by the good work that I’ve done and he felt he wanted to do the same thing.”
His advice to his son was not to “over-promise for something you can’t deliver” and to “always vote with your conscience”.
Aside from continuing to work with a bank, Mr Melhem remains a board member of the St Paul’s Antioch Orthodox Church in Dandenong, Peninsula Health and the Australian Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“I find the time because I love working for the community.
“I’ve always been one to think if I’m not going to do it, who’s going to do it?”
While others learn of his award, he plans to man the barbecue at his church’s Australia Day celebration at Lysterfield Lake.
“Every time you help someone, it motivates you to do more.”
