The City of Whittlesea took part in Refugee Week from June 18 to 24, with this year’s theme being ‘Finding Freedom’.
Council hosted various events to celebrate the City of Whittlesea’s vibrant cultures and diversity brought by residents from overseas, and aimed to foster togetherness and raise awareness about the challenges refugees face.
Refugee Week events honoured and showcased the stories and experiences of the refugee community and people seeking asylum.
City of Whittlesea chair administrator Lydia Wilson said it was important to recognise and appreciate the ways in which people from refugee backgrounds enriched the municipality, and to understand the hardships and hurdles they continue to face.
“The City of Whittlesea promotes respect for the cultural diversity that refugees and migrants bring to our municipality and is proud of the positive contributions made by people who have come to our area from countries far and wide,” she said.
“Refugee Week is a great opportunity for us to unite individuals, communities and organisations from different backgrounds and to focus on creating a welcoming environment for refugees in our community.”
Council is also currently piloting a State Government-funded program helping refugees and people seeking asylum, who live within the City of Whittlesea and the City of Hume, to receive catch-up immunisations.
The program is open to people of all ages and aims to protect them and the broader community from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Catch-up vaccines are free for all refugees and other humanitarian entrants in Australia.
For more information about catch-up immunisations, email the City of Whittlesea’s multilingual project team on refugeeimmunisation@whittlesea.vic.gov.au.
