P AKISTANIS IN A USTRALIA PAWA NEWS

A
22ND JULY 2012
Dr. Zarrin S Siddiqui, 46 Kanangra Crs. Greenwood, WA 6024, Australia Ph: 0434841705, Email: pakistanis.in.australia@gmail.com

NEWSLETTER OF THE COMMUNITY, FOR THE COMMUNITY AND BY THE COMMUNITY

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 15

THE BEGINNING OF RAMAZAN As we all enjoy the fasting month of Ramzan it has been a sad start for Melbourne where the Pakistani community and students were in shock and mourning for the untimely demise of Waqar a student of RMIT from Quetta. Initially there was also a call for donations by Pakistan Student Association of Australia (PSAA) for his final travel to Pakistan. However the family later requested that they would like to take this responsibility. I was overwhelmed with the phone calls about the donations from Perth and if anyone has still contributed the donations will be reimbursed by PSAA. Grief does bind us together On another note a Pakistani student Hamza Amir was robbed at one of the Melbourne train stations on his first night in Australia and another student just forgot his suitcase on the tram, never to find them again. Both of these youngsters were delegates at a youth conference. If any of your friends and relatives are coming for a visit, do ensure that they take appropriate travel insurance. There is also an issue currently raised by families in Pakistan mainly from Parachinar who lost few of their family members in the asylum seekers boat tragedy last month and they are requesting their dead bodies to be returned. If we have any updates from High Commission in Canberra or any other organisation, will let you know. Finally thanks to one of our subscribers who took the initiative to forward our newsletters to a local Councillor in northern suburbs specially the one about the Urdu books collection. I have been approached to get this group registered as an incorporated body so we can be partners in the consultative processes and grants specially in northern suburbs as there is growing number of Pakistani families. At this moment our facebook membership is more than 580 with about 200 prospective students and migrants from Pakistan and the page is used by almost every organisation around Australia working for Pakistanis including PAWA and CMSS which are two organisations who work with Pakistani communities in WA. Please let me know what you think. All the comments received will be circulated with our next newsletter anonymously and will be edited only if required.
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MESSAGE FROM HIS EXCELLENCY PETER HEYWARD THROUGH SADAEWATAN SYDNEY Dear Members of the Australian-Pakistani Community, Through Sada-e-Watan Sydney, I am sending my first message to all of you. I promised Mr.Zafar that I will keep close contact with the Pakistanis settled in Australia. Last Thursday (12 July 2012) I presented my credentials as Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan to President Asif Ali Zardari and have now begun my work here in earnest as Australia's representative. Following the wonderful hospitality shown by the Australian Pakistani community before we left, my wife and I have been welcomed to Islamabad in the same spirit by the local community. We now feel very much at home here, although the initial difference in temperature (from -3 in Canberra to 45 here, peaking at 47 a few days later) was a bit of a shock. I have also been able to test for myself the claim made by many of you that Pakistani mangoes are world class and I am happy to be able to report that they have lived up to your promises. We attended a Mango Festival hosted by the Punjab Government yesterday at which many of the over 100 varieties grown here were on display and spoke to growers and officials from the region about the prospect of export of some of their next seasons crop to Australia if biosecurity protocols can be agreed by then as hoped. Susan and I were able to host a wide range of local contacts in our residence for our first official function last week. The High Commission staff had worked hard to create an outdoor cinema on the lawn of the residence and we presented the Australian film "Bran Nue Dae" to celebrate NAIDOC week on a balmy night to an appreciative audience. Australia obviously has many friends in Pakistan and and all spoke warmly of relations between the two countries. Ramazan will start shortly during which I will continue meeting key officials and diplomatic colleagues, and we are expecting a delegation from the Australian Federal Parliament at the end of August, so there will be plenty to do in the weeks ahead. As I made to clear to you before I left, I am here representing not only the Australian Government but the people of Australia, which includes all those of Pakistani origin who call Australia home. I have already heard from some of you, but reiterate that I am keen to remain in touch and hope to see you here if you are visiting. With warm regards, Peter Heyward Islamabad Pakistan.
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ECCWA CAMPAIGNS FOR AUSTRALIAN RATIFICATION OF THE MIGRANT WORKERS CONVENTION: On 16th July we participated in card campaign launchorganised by Ethnic Communities Council of WA. Please follow the link to send a message to the Prime Minister to support 215 Million Reasons... The Rights of Migrant Workers & their Families. One of the TV channels will be running a small documentary on the issue with few Pakistanis in attendance speaking about their experience as migrants along with the Member of Parliament(Maylands) Ms. Lisa Baker who inaugurated the campaign in WA. AUSTRALIAN ASIAN ASSOCIATION RUNNING DAYCARE PROGRAM Wednesdays each week Mixed Group of Srilankan, Indian, Burmese, Pakistani and Bangladeshi seniors at AAA. Transport AAA has one van picking up clients from their homes from the North Metro area and another van from the South Metro area. Clients are dropped off at their homes after the completion of the program. Activities Activities include wellness programs, exercises and other activities like games also. Lunch There is a tasty lunch for all participants. If anyone requires vegetarian meals these too can be provided. The cost is $ 16.00 per person for all the services. If you know of anyone who would be interested please contact Manil as we need to do a Referral to a HACC Assessment Centre and get approval before we can provide the services. This approval process can be handled by Manil de Mel at
cpp.coordinator@iinet.net.au.

SENIORS AWARDS This is also the perfect timing to let everyone know that we have nominated Manil de Mel for the Seniors Award as his program and contribution to improve the lives of senior citizens is immense and is highly appreciated. I am not sure if it has gone through because the deadline was on a Sunday and need to be reconfirmed. AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR It is now time to also nominate for Australian of the Year award which closes on 31st August and there are multiple categories. If you know anyone that deserves this recognition please take time to nominate and acknowledge their efforts or let us know and this group can prepare the nomination.
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For tickets: http://www.waimr.uwa.edu.au/fundraising/raffle.html RAMZAN PROJECT: A MEDIUM OF CHANGE An excellent initiative has been undertaken by a group of youngsters and Zainab is also involved in this project so Once a transaction has been made pls tell the donor to send an email to Zainab at zainab_syed@brown.edu or Sabeen which contains their cheque no. And date of the transaction so that they can trace the donation to make sure the money has been received.
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MEDIA RELEASE FROM PAKISTAN TEHREEK E INSAAF ( WA CHAPTER)

We are delighted to announce that PTI WA chapter has embarked upon a milestone of 60 paying members in just over three months since its launch back in April. Former Membership coordinator Amir Qureshis persevering and steadfast efforts were the main driving force to hit such a mark in this short span of time. Other active members namely Omair Chodhry, Hamid Khan, Muhammad Maroof, Shakeel Khan, Hadi Shikrani, Jaam Saad Ullah and many more chipped in their time and efforts in regular meetings motivating concerned Pakistanis to support PTI through moral, practical and financial means. PTI Australia is in its 3rd phase of elections process. Finance signatories of each state where elections are going to be held are in the verification process of paying members listings to maintain and uphold utmost transparency in upcoming elections. Elections will be held electronically between 6th to 8th August with results announced by 10th August for respective states / chapters President, Vice President and General Secretary. PTI WA chapter endeavors to have a grand Eid Milan Lunch or Dinner at or just after the EID day. During Ramadan newly elected executive team will announce date, time and venue of above in due course. A series of gatherings with members as well as non members are being planned in the form of iftar dinners during Ramadan so as to highlight the significance of our individual roles which can and which indeed will play an extremely vital role in these exorbitant testing times of nose-diving downfall of our motherland, Pakistan.

CONGRATULATIONS TO IMRAN KHAN

It is indeed an honor from the most prestigious institution for medical education in the world to acknowledge someone who is striving to bring a change.
This is a fortnightly newsletter to keep community informed of whats happening in Pakistan and in Australia with a special focus on Western Australia at this time. We also acknowledge that this newsletter is disseminated from Noongar land. Feel free to contribute any news that may be of interest to community or to disseminate it among your networks. The earlier issues can be accessed

through our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/groups/pakistanisinaustralia 6

A SURVEY FOR AUSTRALIAN CITIZENS AND PERMANENT RESIDENTS

Imran is a PhD student who is collecting data for his study through online survey. This is a very crucial step in a PhD program and most frustrating if adequate number of respondents is not met. Please participate in this study if you are a PR or citizen of Australia.

Dear Respondent, You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted by Imran Muhammad at RMIT University, School of Business IT & Logistics as part of his PhD studies. The aim of this study is to address a significant void in existing literature and provide an evaluation of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) by analyzing the Australian experience to date. You have been approached because you are one of the main stakeholders in PCEHR implementation adoption and use in Australia. And thus your participation is important for this study. Answering this survey should not take more than 20 minutes. Thank you very much for your time and participation in this study. Web link for general public https://rmit.asia.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4Uhm7NzTvN3r59W Web link for (Healthcare service providers) Doctors, Nurses, dentists... https://rmit.asia.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bNJxGOxhHuSiqGg

FINAL WORD: OLYMPICS 2012

Finally our best wishes to both Australia and Pakistan in upcoming Olympics. While we pray that Australia gets into top five countries on the medal list and get more medals than Beijing Olympics, emotions are also running high to see Pakistani hockey team playing against Australia in final event on 11th August so lets see if we will have a big Iftar organised on 11th August to see the final?