THE residents of the City of Knox now have access to a brand new online resource –  the Knox Multicultural Directory. The Directory was developed by the City of Knox in recognition of the area’s growing diversity and cultural vibrancy.

This useful resource lists the contact details of over 80 organisations compiled under five separate headings: Migrant/Refugee Groups; Faith Organisations; Relevant Services; Knox City Council Services; and Relevant Services (located outside Knox).

The Directory has a number of purposes, this includes providing information to the general public about the growing diversity in Knox. It is also designed to assist individuals and service providers with making connections to migrant and refugee groups based in Knox and to assist migrants and refugees in the area to connect with services.

Knox has a population of 154,000 people and the community is increasingly diverse. Based on the most recent data produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 2011), approximately 28 per cent of Knox’s population (over 41,000 people) were born overseas. The top five overseas countries of birth (starting with the most populous first) are the United Kingdom, India, China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Knox City Council states that every attempt has been made to provide accurate, relevant and up to date information in this Directory, and it encourages the public to contact Knox City Council’s Multicultural Communities Officer on 9298 8000 to provide any further updates.

THE countdown is on to Australia’s biggest ever football tournament! The Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) Asian Football Cup is held every four years and is the premier men’s football competition held in the region.

The AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 will see the best teams from 16 countries in Asia compete in the tournament for the continent’s biggest sporting prize.

The event is a 32 game, 23 day festival of football with Melbourne playing host to seven of the games, which will be held at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium at Olympic Park.

Organisers estimate that the tournament will be the biggest sporting event in Australia in a decade and the largest football tournament Australia has ever hosted, drawing around 45,000 overseas visitors to Australia.

The tournament kicks off in Melbourne with Australia taking on Kuwait on             9 January 2015. The first match will also feature a colourful opening ceremony.

Other games held in Melbourne include a quarter-final, plus five group matches involving past Asian Cup champions – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the defending champions, Japan.

The event will be held from 9-31 January 2015 in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle. For more information click on the link below.

INFORMATION about organ donation is now available in 18 different languages.

DonateLife Victoria, which coordinates organ donation in Victoria and Tasmania, has translated a range of resources to help culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities access information about organ donation.
 

These resources are an initiative of the ‘DonateLife…the greatest gift’ community education campaign. This campaign, conducted in consultation with religious and community leaders, is a national strategic priority to ensure access to culturally appropriate and in-language resources for diverse faith and cultural communities in Australia.

The organisation aims to improve access to information about organ donation for all Victorians, and ensure that families have all the information they need to help with the discussion and decisions around organ donation.

Information booklets are now available in Arabic, Chinese (traditional), Greek, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (simplified), Korean, Dinka, Somali, Dari, Punjabi, Indonesian (Bahasa), Macedonian, Serbian and Croatian.

The newly translated resources include the DonateLife brochure, which provides information to help with making donation decisions, as well as the registration form for the Australian Organ Donor Register (AODR).

Materials to support donor families after a loved one has donated have also been translated. These include the Understanding Death and Donation booklet which assists with understanding the donation process, and the In Reflection booklet, which provides information for donor families dealing with the grieving process.

A NEW online resource kit to help schools establish overseas sister school partnerships and bring Victorian and overseas schools closer together, has been launched by the Minister for Education.

The resource kit aims to support Victorian schools at different stages of their sister school partnerships. The kit includes information for schools who want to take the first step to establishing a partnership with an overseas school, as well as for schools who already have an established sister school relationship.

The kit includes short video case studies of success stories, highlighting some of the obstacles that schools may encounter when establishing a sister school partnership and features strategies that can be employed to overcome obstacles.

Information on how to form sister school partnerships, foster that relationship and visit a sister school relationship, are all available in the resource kit.

This resource complements the Victorian Government’s Vision for Languages Education, where all Prep classes will begin languages education from 2015, building a foundation of languages education for all students up to Year 10 by 2025.

In addition to growing Victoria’s sister school program, the Government has invested $13 million to send 1,500 Year 9 students to China over the next five years.

The resource kit is informed by 2012 research commissioned by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) on effective practices in sister school partnerships. For more information click on the link below.

ON Saturday 29 November 2014, Victoria will be holding a State election. The Office of Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship (OMAC) is working with the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) to deliver information sessions for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities on how to vote.

The Victorian Electoral Commission’s Education and Engagement Department has a team of Community Educators from the Horn of Africa, Sudan and South Sudan  communities. These Community Educators are holding information sessions about elections and voting in the following languages: Amharic, Arabic, Dinka, Kiswahili, Nuer and Tigrinya.

The FREE sessions will last between 60 and 90 minutes and include information about how to enrol to vote, the three levels of government in Australia, who represents you in government and how to vote correctly.

Enrolment for voting in the 2014 State Election closes on Friday 7 November 2014, and the VEC is urging those interested in booking an information session to do so now with the option of conducting a refresher sessions later in the year.

THE Australia-China Achievement Awards are a new initiative by the Australia-China Council, which celebrate the successes of Australian organisations and individuals in advancing Australia-China relations.

Awards will be presented in three categories; education; entrepreneurship; and the arts. A monetary prize of $5,000 and a framed winner’s certificate will be presented in each of the three categories at a ceremony held later on this year. 

Nominations will be accepted from (or on behalf of) Australian organisations and individuals, and may relate to projects, activities and achievements in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Australia.

Nominations can either focus on a specific project by an Australian organisation or individual in China, or an organisation's or individual’s overall achievements in engaging with China.

In the case of individual nominations, the nominee must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. In the case of organisation entries, the organisation must be a legal entity that is head-quartered in Australia.

Nominations Guidelines are available here

Nominations must be submitted online here by 10.00am (Eastern Standard Time), 6 October 2014.