Manningham Council would like to congratulate local resident Faiza Rehman on her recent appointment to the Australian Multicultural Council (AMC).

Ms Rehman migrated to Doncaster from Pakistan in 1997, and is a valuable member of the Manningham community advocating for youth empowerment and inspiring young people to push their boundaries to achieve their goals.

Ms Rehman, a qualified lawyer, is currently a Youth Officer at the United Muslim Migrant Association. In 2005, she was nominated for the Young Muslim Australian of the Year for her community work, and in 2013 she was a contestant on MasterChef.

Manningham Mayor, Cr Paul McLeish, said Ms Rehman provides an important voice for our diverse population.

“Manningham is home to people from many different backgrounds, faiths and religions, and it is important that all of these views are represented.”

“I have no doubt Ms Rehman’s knowledge, enthusiasm, drive and compassion will make her a valuable asset to the AMC,” he said.

The AMC currently consists of six members who provide advice to the Federal Government on multicultural affairs policy and programs, including how to address racism and discrimination.

Have you or has someone you know experienced racism or religious discrimination?

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and the Victorian Multicultural Commission are running a joint series of information sessions to educate and empower multicultural and multifaith communities about racism, understanding your rights and taking action.

These interactive sessions will provide information to better understand and exercise your rights if you or someone you know experiences racism, religious discrimination, or racial or religious vilification. 

Attendees will also learn how to recognise racism, how to report it and where to seek advice and support.

All sessions will be delivered online, via the video call platform Zoom. The sessions will be interactive, with participants encouraged to contribute in a safe and confidential environment.

For more information on each session and to register your interest, visit the Victorian Multicultural Commission website.

If you have experienced racism, sexual harassment or discrimination of any kind, or if you have any human rights issues or concerns, visit the Community Reporting Tool to make a report.

Manningham Council is inviting the community to come along and join a celebration to promote harmony, and recognise the many cultures that make up our vibrant community, at Ajani Community Hub on Saturday 27 August 12 noon – 4.00 pm.

This popular family fun day for the Bulleen and Templestowe community will showcase a range of cultural activities, food and market stalls in a fun and inviting atmosphere.

Children can enjoy the Giant Games and Backyard Sports and discover more about Scouts and other free activities and services in the area.

For younger kids, there will be a petting zoo, art activities, and face painting, and a special Ajani Treasure Hunt where every child will win a prize!

The Templestowe Rotary Club market will also be part of the celebration with indoor stalls including craft, fresh produce, plants and children’s goods.

Everyone is welcome to come and join in this community celebration with friends and neighbours.

The Ajani Multicultural Festival is proudly supported by Manningham City Council, Manningham Community Health, Doncare Community Services, Onemda, Whitehorse Manningham Libraries, 1st Lower Templestowe Scouts and the Rotary Club of Manningham, with funding from the Adult, Community and Further Education Board and the Victorian Multicultural Commission.

Where: Ajani Community Hub and Reserve, 284 Thompsons Road, Templestowe Lower.
When: Saturday 27 August, 12 noon – 4.00 pm

The Manningham community has been recognised for its work in helping migrants and refugees to feel more welcome, having won a 2016 Victorian Local Government Multicultural Award for Excellence.

Proudly presented by the Victorian Multicultural Commission, the award was received at a ceremony hosted by the Governor of Victoria at Government House on Thursday 13 October 2016.

The award recognises major initiatives by local government and community partners that promotes and strengthens multiculturalism, and enhances the participation and engagement of culturally and linguistically diverse communities in civic and community life.

Manningham has a wonderfully diverse multicultural population with residents from 140 countries and almost 40 per cent speak a language other than English at home.

To acknowledge this diversity, Council publically declared Manningham a Migrant and Refugee Welcome Zone in June 2015. This represents a commitment in spirit to welcome migrants and refugees, to uphold their human rights, demonstrate compassion, and enhance the cultural and religious diversity of our community.

In partnership with community organisations, the hugely successful ‘Welcome Tree’ initiative to help people from all cultural and faith groups to feel welcome, and to encourage people to be welcoming of others.

Four Migrant and Refugee Welcome Trees were designed and constructed by adult migrant English students from Swinburne University and spent over a year travelling between local schools, libraries, clubs, community groups, faith centres and events and venues all over Manningham.

Along the way, an incredible 10,000 welcome leaves for the Trees were enthusiastically created and shared by the community, each with personal messages of welcome written and drawn on them – a forest of welcomes!

Winning the award will help spread this message of welcome even further.  A live Welcome Tree has been planted outside the front entrance of the Manningham Civic Centre, a special song titled ‘Welcome Home Mate’ composed of the words of welcome messages was recorded, and collections of the welcome leaf messages are on display in the Civic Centre meeting rooms and foyer.

Manningham Chief Executive Officer, Warwick Winn said, “To strengthen this diversity and enhance community wellbeing, Council and key community partners identified a need to ensure people from all cultural and faith groups feel welcome in Manningham, and are welcoming of others.”

“The messages of welcome written on the leaves of our Welcome Trees are inspiring.  Each one welcomes people to Australia and to our community, expressing messages of friendship, hope, support and safety.”

“I invite you to read some of the thousands of welcome messages that we’ve collected so far.”

“Our Councillors, staff, Access and Equity Advisory Committee members and project partners – the Communities Council of Ethnic Issues, Swinburne University and AMES Box Hill – are thrilled about this award as it recognises the positive change and greater understanding and acceptance that can be achieved in our community by working together,” he said.

www.manningham.vic.gov.au/migrant-and-refugee-welcome-zone

Certified by Chief Executive, Warwick Winn, in accordance with Section 55D of the Local Government Act 1989

Manningham is proactively creating a community where people of all cultural backgrounds are respected and valued.

Over two online forums, community leaders and key members of our multicultural communities met with Councillors and officers to identify how Manningham can best work with them now and into the future.

Mayor Cr Andrew Conlon said the initiative came out of the past 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While we’ve always had good relationships with our diverse and multi-cultural communities, the pandemic highlighted areas we could improve on,” he said.

“The forums helped us better understand the needs of our multicultural communities and determine the best methods to engage with each other.”

The forums were attended by 18 community leaders of various backgrounds and faiths.

The top three findings and suggestions from the forums include multicultural communities want:

• a formal advisory mechanism to communicate with council and vice versa
• an informal network to link community members with council and each other 
• to partner with council to regularly celebrate and share cultural practices (such as cultural food, arts and performances) and to hold topical events with speakers and special guests. 

Manningham is reviewing the findings and a new multicultural advisory committee will be set up in the coming months.

Applications to be part of the forthcoming Multicultural Advisory Committee will be sought through a public nomination process and will be advertised on Council’s website in the coming weeks.

We have endorsed the membership of four community advisory committees.

Members of the committees will work with Council to create a more inclusive, respectful, equitable and healthy community.

Members of the advisory committees are:

Manningham Mayor, Cr Michelle Kleinert thanked the advisory committee members for their commitment to wanting to help make Manningham a better place.

“Council is looking forward to meeting all of the advisory committees. The members will make an important contribution by informing decision making and priority setting.”
“This is an exciting time for engaging with our diverse communities. We are looking forward to receiving advice and feedback from these groups so that we can better meet the needs of all.”

Each Advisory Committee will meet four times a year, with the first meetings planned to occur in July.

Find out more about our committees and working groups.

Manningham is a vibrant and diverse community with people of all cultures and backgrounds. We have a proud history of a multicultural community living, working and celebrating together. We want to showcase and celebrate this community spirit.

In this series of videos, we have asked some community members to share their experiences and get to see their passion for our community in Manningham.

We have translated subtitles for all videos

العربية  | Ελληνικά  | Italiano | فارسی | 简体中文 | 繁體中文 

Select your preferred language in the settings for these videos. You can access settings once the video is playing in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Manningham Council has taken another step forward on its reconciliation journey, becoming one of only ten Victorian councils to develop and endorse a Reconciliation Action Plan.

Manningham Mayor, Cr Paul McLeish said Council recognises the importance of establishing strong partnerships with both local and Indigenous communities.

“The Manningham 2015-2017 Reconciliation Action Plan builds on previous actions, the national experience thus far of Reconciliation, and incorporates what the Wurundjeri Elders, local community partners and Council feel are the most important and achievable local objectives.”

 “The Plan aims to achieve realistic, measurable and relevant areas of action within the Manningham community, while supporting the State and National framework for Reconciliation including cultural celebration, cultural education and the preservation of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Sites of Significance in Manningham.”

 “A key part of this process has been the extensive consultation with the local community, a wide range of peak Indigenous bodies, Wurundjeri Elders, the Eastern Local Indigenous Network, State Government and local Indigenous advisors and Council officers,” he said.

Cr McLeish said the Reconciliation Action Plan has been created under the guidance of Reconciliation Australia, and in coming years will see the delivery of a number of reconciliation initiatives, including a focus on new opportunities for Indigenous people in Manningham in the areas of training and employment.

“Council will also continue to support increased engagement with our local Indigenous communities and agencies, and advocate reconciliation education within schools and cultural programming,” he said.

Manningham Council is committed to being an open and diverse community, and we are extremely proud to have joined the Refugee Council of Australia to publically declare our commitment in spirit to welcoming refugees and migrants into the community.

Manningham Mayor, Cr Paul McLeish, said being a Migrant and Refugee Welcome Zone reinforces the City’s commitment to uphold human rights and support our most vulnerable.

“Manningham’s pledge is to demonstrate compassion to all of those who seek to build a new life in our City, no matter what their cultural or religious background.

“As part of this Welcome Zone we also acknowledge the tremendous contribution that refugees and migrants have made to our City over the years,” Cr McLeish said.

Manningham Council in conjunction with the Communities’ Council on Ethnic Issues is hosting a free Refugee Welcome Celebration to acknowledge the launch of the Manningham Migrant and Refugee Welcome Zone and UN World Refugee Day on Friday 26 June.

The event’s key note speaker will be Thomas Albrecht, Regional Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Canberra, who has geographical responsibility for 16 Pacific countries.

Mr Albrecht said global forced displacement has been rising steadily in recent years. 

“In 2013, more than 32,000 people were forced to flee from their homes every day – more than twice the daily figure only two years before.

“Many of today's fundamental challenges to human society can only be addressed if the international community truly leaves behind its differences and contradictions and seriously commits itself to working together,” Mr Albrecht said.

The following organisations will participate in the celebration and support the ongoing implementation of the Migrant and Refugee Welcome Zone in Manningham:

• Victoria Police
• Migrant Information Centre
• Adult Migrant Education Service (AMES)
• Swinburne University
•  AFL players
• The Manningham Interfaith Network
• Manningham schools and sporting clubs.

A large number of people who are from refugee and migrant backgrounds will also be in attendance at the launch.

The Refugee Welcome Celebration will be hosted by comedian George Kapiniaris and include Burmese, Iranian and Kurdish music and dance, traditional crafts, henna painting and door prizes.

Community groups will also be invited to write and draw messages of welcome onto ‘Welcome Leaves’ which will then be placed onto ‘Welcome Trees’.

The trees and leaves have been made by migrants who are learning English at Swinburne University’s Croydon campus. The Welcome Trees will tour Manningham and its surrounds for the next 12 months and it is anticipated that they will turn into a forest of ‘welcomes’.

Following the launch event, the community will also have the opportunity to attend a Migrant and Refugee Human Library.

Participants will be able to borrow ‘human books’ from Doncaster Library for a 20 minute one on one conversation about the individuals migrant or refugee experiences.

Refugee Welcome Celebration

Date: Friday 26 June

Time: 10.00 am – 12.30 pm

Location: Manningham Civic Centre, 699 Doncaster Road, Doncaster

Cost: Free

Migrant and Refugee Human Library

Date: Friday 26 June

Time: 12.30 pm – 4.00 pm

Location: Doncaster Library, MC Square, 687 Doncaster Road, Doncaster

Cost: Free

For more information, call Doncaster Library on 9877 8500 or visit the Whitehorse Manningham Libraries website.

On Wednesday 13 April, we hosted an Iftar dinner breaking the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan. The evening was a chance to strengthen bonds with various community groups. The event was held in partnership with the United Muslim Migrant Association (UMMA) and Fire Rescue Victoria.

We learnt the importance of daily fasting, how it enriches Muslim lives and the many ways of observing prayer. The call to prayer was also shared with those in attendance.

We were privileged to take part in this deep and meaningful event. Members of the community joined our Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Councillors, along with emergency services and members of State Parliament.

The UMMA reached out to Fire Rescue Victoria to organise the event. Their aim is to help the Islamic community be better prepared for an emergency event. 

The theme of the evening was 'community partnerships'. Members of the Country Fire Authority, Fire Rescue Victoria, Victoria Police, State Emergency Service and Australian Red Cross came together to continue building long-lasting friendships and resilience.

We thank Steven Mole and Frank Yaman from Fire Rescue Victoria, and Amad Kazi, Executive and Chairperson of the UMMA, for making the event possible.