Multicultural Youth SA Film Event

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:51): Recently, I was fortunate to be invited to and represent minister Bettison at a wonderful film event presented by Multicultural Youth SA and the City of Marion. The event was held at the Glandore Community Centre, where we were welcomed by Angela Powell, the new service manager of MYSA, and the Mayor of the City of Marion, Kris Hanna. The film, Through Our Eyes, is a movie that was written, filmed, created by and starring a number of the youths and young adults who are supported by MYSA. The MYSA film project was delivered with the assistance of the youth development partnership funded by the Marion council.

The official screening of the film project coincided with Refugee Week. Approximately 90 guests attended the event, where the stories of some of the young refugees, who now reside in Adelaide, were presented in the film. Those featured come from various countries and have all arrived in Australia within one to five years. They spoke of the media scare that can impart a discriminatory image on new rivals and how this does not depict their aspirations of positively participating and contributing to Australian society.

We heard the story of a young Afghani woman named Asma, whose mother stood up for the right for women to be educated in their home country. The consequential volatility and threats to their lives lead them to flee Afghanistan. Asma now desires to become a policewoman in order to do good and protect the safety of women. Asma is looking to apply to become a police officer in 2018 and, if successful, Asma may be the first female Middle Eastern police officer in Australia. The Deputy Mayor of Port Adelaide Enfield, Vanessa McCluskey, who attended the event, has since invited Asma to visit the Police Academy.

We also heard from Ali and Awale, who have developed an interest in film, producing a number of narratives, which they have posted on social media. They have approximately 100,000 followers and they are particularly keen to further foster their skills in film and production. MYSA's team leader, Mariloly Reyes, told the story of a refugee who had the heart-wrenching scenario of having to leave her toddler behind in Africa when coming to Australia on a humanitarian visa. MYSA assisted her and guided her through the extensive migration paperwork to enable her son to finally reunite with his mother in Australia.

The consistent theme in the stories of these teens and young adults was the support and friendships that they were able to form through engaging with MYSA. The MYSA clients spoke with pride about their involvement with the film project and I hear that since the film screening, TAFE SA has approached MYSA to present the movie to students of the migrant English program.

The staging of the event was delivered by Miss MYSA Events, which is due to be officially launched as a MYSA social enterprise this November. MME is an event management business comprised of caravan bars and an event planning service. It hires young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds and provides them with training, work experience and references to find future employment.

Mayor Hanna spoke passionately on the night about the Marion council's desire to integrate and support young refugees into their community. One of the MYSA clients described how he was reluctant to go outside of his home, having few English skills, but was welcomed and later introduced to some of the youth community services. He spoke of how much this had meant to him and how it helped him connect to his new community. Approximately 15,000 people aged between 12 to 25 years reside in the City of Marion, roughly 25 per cent of residents are born overseas and 14 per cent are from countries where the first language is not English.

Congratulations to all of the clients, volunteers and staff involved in the project, including Ali Al-Dulaimi, Alwale Hassan, Hussain Mahdi, Henry Kettor, Faith Lawrence Abio, Asma Safi, Aref Ahmadi, Mehdi Al-Dulaimi, Chance JB, Amadou Mayaba Kromah, Tom Messenger, Rory Clark, Aicha Keita, Mohammed Keita, Reuben Gore, Cristian Pinto, Nicole Wolf, Tamara Stewart-Jones and Elizabeth Hansen.

I would like to acknowledge the great work of Mayor Hanna and the City of Marion's youth partnership in helping to make this project come to fruition. The MYSA team would also like to thank everyone for the support they have received leading up to and following the project. MYSA hope to make the inaugural movie night an annual event and host a multicultural music festival next year, should funding be secured. MYSA is doing a wonderful job to provide such services, and I hope that all levels of government back the great work that MYSA is doing in this area.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Mr President, I draw your attention to the state of the council.

A quorum having been formed: