Ashish Ganda

An excellent function to commemorate International Women’s day was organized by United Indian Associations (UIA) at Parravilla Function Center in Parramatta on 06 March 2010. Attended by senior female members of the Australian Parliament and NSW legislative assembly the forum acted as a reminder to everyone assembled on the progress made by women in contributing to workforce, community, and nation building activities since the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Addressing the forum, President of UIA Ms Aruna Chandrala mentioned that the forum has been organized by Women’s Steering Committee of the UIA on a regular basis and aims to deliver relevant and timely information to Indian community about support available from Australian and NSW Government for their growth and development.

Chairperson of the UIA Women’s Steering Committee Ms Sumati Advani highlighted that the aims and objectives of the Committee are to explore matters relating to issues of Indian women and provide support to Australian Indian women, especially newly arrived migrant women, who find themselves isolated in a new country due to their cultural differences and language barriers or difficulties in understanding the Australian accent. She also mentioned that to achieve this end, UIA has established a Women’s Helpline on its website, i.e. www.uia.org.au. UIA website also has a directory of Women’s Support Services, agencies and Resource Centers that provide welfare and community services for women.

The distinguished speakers on the Forum were Minister Barbara Perry, MP; Hon Amanda Fazio, MLC and President of the Legislative Council of NSW; Ms Michelle Rowland – candidate for Greenway; Ms Aurelia Rehman and Ms Shantha Vishwanathan of the Hills Holroyd Parramatta Migrant Resource Center; Ms Tania from Beyond Blue Organization; and representatives from NSW Department of Health.

In her address to the assembly Hon Amanda Fazio mentioned the strong contributions of women to Australian society and highlighted that women like Hon Julia Gillard, Hon Anna Bligh – Premier of Queensland, Hon Kristina Keneally – Premier of NSW are now holding high posts in government and politics. She concluded by mentioning that successful women should take the onus of mentoring and helping other women to be successful and high achievers.
Ms Aurelia Rehman and Ms Shantha Vishwanathan highlighted the different programs available from Hills Holroyd Parramatta Migrant Resource Center to help new migrants to integrate within Australian society, cope and tackle domestic violence, and increase their employability skills. They emphasized that help from the Center is available to persons with diverse ethnicities like Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistani, Afghani, Chinese, Africans. During their presentation it was highlighted that help is available from NSW government to skilled migrants facing difficulty in obtaining job in Australian Job Market under the Skill Max Program. Skill Max program helps skilled migrants gain Australian work experience and learn job search skills to find a job of their choice in the marketplace. Within this program the NSW Government facilitates a minimum of 2 week work experience for the migrants which can extend to a larger duration in some cases.

Representatives from NSW Health highlighted the services available under the NSW “Get Healthy” program to all residents of NSW to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Under this program free, confidential telephone and web-based support is available to people interested in making healthy changes to their lifestyle. The Service provides users with specific information regarding healthy eating and physical activity and provides users with an option of taking part in an ongoing behavior change coaching process. They also mentioned about the NSW Multicultural Health Community Service program (http://www.mhcs.health.nsw.gov.au) where latest information in 45 languages is available to public.

Ms Tania from BeyondBlue organization talked about Depression and Anxiety problems faced by women and facilities available to address these issues. She talked of the collaborative approach between GP’s, Psychologists, Counselors and Psychiatrists to tackle mental health issues and material available from BeyondBlue organization to sensitize and inform public about these illnesses.

A nice presentation on assertiveness skills was given by Ms Dipti Zachariah. She mentioned that assertiveness is middle zone between passive to aggressive behaviour continuum. Assertive people tend to be happy and more successful at work then passive or aggressive people. These skills can be self-taught or through the help of psychologists and counselors. Assertiveness training people to achieve a better work life balance and be successful at their careers. Finally the vote of thanks was delivered by Ms Bhagya Shankar.