Author: mohamed-ainullah

Last month, community broadcasters from across Australia gathered in Melbourne for the 2016 CBAA Community Radio Awards. These national awards are a celebration of community broadcasting excellence and recognise the accomplishments of community radio services and the people behind them across more than 20 categories. Amongst those recognised is young volunteer Zeina Tebbo for her outstanding contribution to her local station, Muslim Community Radio (2MFM). This award recognises a young person who has contributed to their station or the sector in an outstanding way. Entries may be for any person aged under 26 years who has shown strong commitment to the values of community broadcasting in a number of areas. Zeina commenced as a 2MFM Radio volunteer in 2012, while also studying engineering at the University of New South Wales. Today, Zeina volunteers in a  variety of departments including marketing, programming, research and governance. She has evolved into a prominent leader committed to supporting staff and volunteers. The annual CBAA Awards are designed to promote and recognise excellence in community broadcasting. They acknowledge the accomplishments of stations and their programs, initiatives or practices that increase their capability and improve the services offered to that station’s community. Winners were announced at a special gala dinner held in Melbourne on Saturday, 12 November 2016. CBAA Chief Executive Officer Jon Bisset had this to say of the Awards: “There was an incredibly...

The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) urges all political parties to resist inflammatory statements when discussing immigration and to ensure that debate is balanced, reasonable and informed and does not marginalise any particular group. FECCA Chairperson, Joe Caputo expressed concerns over the recent comments by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Hon Peter Dutton MP who criticised former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser’s policy of welcoming refugees and migrants, referred to refugees “delivering their troubles onto our shores,” and linked specific communities to broader law and order challenges. Mr Caputo said: “While public discussion on immigration is important, any debate must take place within the bounds of respectful discourse. I caution against inflammatory statements that may divide Australians along racial, cultural, linguistic or religious lines.” “Australia has a proud history of immigration, which has brought many benefits to the nation. We must defend Australia’s harmonious and vibrant multicultural society that has contributed to Australia’s economic, intellectual and cultural success” Mr Caputo added. FECCA encourages all Australians to combat stereotypes and prejudice which underpin racism in our community. Mr Caputo urged leaders to facilitate constructive dialogue and cross cultural understanding and to harness the goodwill and participation of all Australians in building a national movement for positive change. FECCA is the peak national body representing Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. FECCA’s role is...