By Sahar Foladi
The Southern Migrant Refugee Centre (SMRC) celebrated its 30th anniversary at State Parliament on Friday 16 June just in time for Refugee Week.
City of Greater Dandenong deputy mayor, Lana Formoso, attended as a Council representative.
“As deputy mayor, community member and a child of migrant parents, who sees first-hand the value this organisation has in our community, I wish these services were available when my parents came to Australia.
“It would have improved many of their outcomes and opportunities living and assimilating in Australia,” she said.
The event included Afghan instrumental performance, traditional Chinese song performance and a panel comprising of SMRC staff, volunteer and members from similar organisations.
Cr Formoso said, “I just read recently that we have had a record number of almost 500,000 migrants arrive in Melbourne over the past year post COVID-19 which means services that SMRC provide will be needed more than ever.
“We certainly need to celebrate what organisations like SMRC are having at the grass roots level.”
Ms Formoso presented awards to some of SMRC’s long serving staff members, the longest, Perla Mazie, has served 27 years.
Ms Mazie began volunteering at first with SMRC which became a “second home” to her and now she works as Coordinator.
“It’s very satisfying to know that at the end of the day you made a difference to a client’s day.
“Organisations like this shouldn’t be taken for granted,” Ms Mazie said.
Cranbourne MP Pauline Richards also attended the event along with Narre Warren North MP Belinda Wilson, Labor member for Holt, Cassandra Fernando and South-Eastern Metropolitan MP Lee Tarlamis.
“It was wonderful to be here and acknowledge the three decades it’s very special to be part of,” Mr Tarlamis said.
SMRC has built itself a reputation that’s deeply rooted into the City of Greater Dandenong communities, City of Casey and other parts in the south east.
Mr Tarlamis said organisations like SMRC bridge the gap on information and resources between the government and diverse communities.
“SMRC is one of those special organisations that can reach and access into the community.
“We’re finding a lot of people don’t know about power saving bonus,” he said.
“When we are talking about cost of living and support measures a lot of people don’t know about it, but they can gain that information and more support from SMRC.”
SMRC chairperson Dr Ponniah Anandajayasekeram said the event provided an opportunity to mark an important milestone, to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of SMRC, its supporters and partners over the three decades.
“We’re really proud to be a part of such a strong and vibrant community and to be an organisation that has continued to adapt and change with the circumstances and needs of our community over the past 30 years.”
SMRC deputy chairperson and Justice and Freedom for Refugees chair for 30 years, Wicki Wickiramasingham urges community members from diverse backgrounds to become SMRC members for a better cause.
“When I migrated to Australia, I didn’t have any resources. We didn’t know what were available to us, so SMRC is a great point of contact for new arrivals through their settlement services.”
As communities celebrates Refugee Week from Sunday 18 June to Saturday 24 June, Ms Richards said it’s important to talk about the way communities contribute.
“We are so fortunate to have people who’ve made ultimate sacrifices to be part of our Victorian community.”
