This year, the theme of Refugee Week is ‘A Million Stories’.
The theme marks the milestone of one million humanitarian visas granted by Australia since 1947 and highlights the individual journeys, resilience and contributions of refugees.
Refugee Week begins on Monday 14 June and at Greater Dandenong City Council, we’re proudly partnering with SisterWorks to host a Refugee Week gathering.
The private event will take place on Tuesday 16 June at the Greater Dandenong Civic Centre.
It will bring together the Mayor, Councillors, members of the Multicultural and People Seeking Asylum Advisory Committee, SisterWorks, and other community partners to connect, share food prepared by SisterWorks, and celebrate the strength, resilience and contributions of people from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds in our community.
Greater Dandenong City Council is a Refugee Welcome zone and proudly supports people from all over the world.
In 2018, we started the Back Your Neighbour campaign to advocate for people seeking asylum locally. We are proud that today, the campaign includes 48 local governments and more than 90 community organisations across the nation standing together for fairness and compassion for families seeking asylum.
Each year, Back Your Neighbour delegates travel to Canberra to share lived experience and community voices directly with Members of Parliament. In the past Geetha and Kye visited Canberra as advocates for fair and compassionate policies in 2024 (Kye) and 2025 (Geetha).
On June 23-25, Greater Dandenong Mayor, Councillor Sophie Tan, will join delegates and her mayoral colleagues from around the country to raise awareness about the challenges facing people seeking asylum, at the National General Assembly and Parliament House in Canberra.
The campaign calls on the Federal Government to:
- Provide a timely pathway to permanency for people with a long-term unresolved immigration status
- Provide people with a valid visa and the opportunity to work
- Expand access to health care, income support and essential services to people in need.
You’re invited to support the campaign by:
- Following on social media @backyourneighbour
- Sending a message of support to your local MP
- If you run a community service, become a campaign partner for free.