Australian Multicultural Women's Alliance - AMWA

08/09/2026

Join us for the launch of the 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: the next steps in supporting temporary visa holders experiencing domestic, sexual and family violence on 𝗧𝘂𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟮 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭𝟬:𝟬𝟬 - 𝟭𝟭:𝟬𝟬𝗮𝗺 (𝗔𝗘𝗦𝗧).

The Australian Multicultural Women's Alliance - AMWA is hosting this national conversation in partnership with the 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, bringing together policymakers, advocates and researchers to discuss the path forward.

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: While there has been recent developments to improve the situation for temporary visa holders experiencing domestic and family violence, it remains the case that every day across Australia women experiencing violence are seeking support and are not able to access the full suite of safety supports because of their visa status.

In 2026 the National Advocacy Group has updated the Blueprint for Reform and we welcome all stakeholders to this event for an update and to hear the priorities and pillars for change as part of the shared national commitment to ending violence against women in a generation.

𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿:
🎤 Malini Raj, Executive Director, AMWA

𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀:
🗣️ Ann Emmanuel,
🗣️ Sara Muzamil,
🗣️ Ana Borges,
🗣️ Sophie de Rohan,
🗣️ Marie Segrave,
🗣️ Manjula O’Connor,

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁.

𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 your attendance and receive the link to join: https://events.humanitix.com/blueprint-for-reform-2026

06/09/2026

This Women’s Health Week, the Australian Multicultural Health Collaborative and the Australian Multicultural Women's Alliance are encouraging women from multicultural communities to ‘Do It Anyway’.

For multicultural women, access to culturally safe, inclusive and accessible healthcare is essential.

Throughout the week, we’ll be sharing information and resources to support women and their families to prioritise their health.

Learn more about Women's Health Week 2026: https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/get-involved/womens-health-week/about-womens-health-week/

Jean Hailes for Women's Health Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia - FECCA

04/09/2026

Last week Australian Multicultural Women's Alliance - AMWA's Executive Director Malini and Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia - FECCA's CEO Prerana Mehta attended the Jean Arnot Recognition Lunch 2026, hosted by the National Council of Women of NSW Inc at NSW Parliament House as they celebrate 130 years of service.

Thank you to President Leshia Bubniuk and the NCW NSW team for such a warm afternoon, and to everyone in the room who gives their time so generously to this Council’s work.

The Jean Arnot Lunch began in 1993, when NCW NSW and Business and Professional Women Sydney came together to celebrate Jean’s 90th birthday and her lifelong contribution to the struggle for equal pay. Since then, the lunch has honoured over 500 women in their nineties for a lifetime of voluntary advocacy and service — this year’s ten Awardees join that number.

What struck us most was the calibre of this year’s cohort — women recognised for decades of quiet, sustained service across social justice, medicine, the arts, cultural identity, youth, education and faith, nominated by the very organisations they gave their lives to: from the Ukrainian Women’s Association and the Sydney Lithuanian Women’s Social Services Association, to the Catholic Women’s League and the Sydney High School Old Girls’ Union. So much of what these women have built happened without fanfare, without title, and often without recognition until events like these.

A similar theme to the women we interact with at AMWA - so many women leading communities and making an impact behind the scenes

Congratulations to all the 2026 Awardees. Jean Arnot spent her life making sure women’s contribution was counted - this lunch keeps doing exactly that, one remarkable woman at a time.

02/09/2026

Last month, Australian Multicultural Women's Alliance - AMWA Executive Director Malini had the privilege of joining a number of advocates for a National Leadership Roundtable on domestic, family and sexual violence with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek as part of the consultations shaping the Second Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032.

It was a genuine opportunity to take the voices of multicultural women to the highest level of decision-making to ensure that the nuanced and distinct experiences of our communities were heard, not as a footnote but as a central consideration in how this plan is designed and resourced.

The conversation was candid. We talked honestly about what is not working. We offered up solutions and ideas and they were openly received. We came away feeling there was a real sense of urgency and a genuine desire to act from those in the room which really matters.

AMWA is deeply grateful to Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek , Minister for Women Katy Gallagher, Assistant Minister for Social Services and the Prevention of Family Violence Ged Kearney, DFSV Commissioner Micaela Cronin and Office for Women Padma Raman and team for ensuring AMWA's voice has been included throughout this consultation process, across multiple forums and at every level of government. That inclusion is not something we take for granted.

AMWA has made a formal submission to the Second Action Plan consultation, drawing on our insights gained from consultations, stakeholder engagement and feedback from our GBV Thematic Working Group. You can read it here: https://amwa.net.au/policies/second-action-plan-submission/

We look forward to continuing to work with government to ensure the Second Action Plan genuinely serves the communities it must reach and that the investment, design and accountability mechanisms reflect the real pathways through which multicultural women seek safety, help and recovery.

The voices are there. The evidence is there. Now we need the plan to match.

31/08/2026

“If we truly care about gender equality in this country, then we must care about the NDIS.”

That was what Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) CEO Sophie Cusworth said earlier this week, addressing the National Press Club as part of “Reasonable or Necessary? Debating Changes to the NDIS” session - alongside People with Disability Australia (PWDA) CEO Megan Spindler-Smith and Aruma’s Dr Martin Laverty, ahead of the Senate’s final report into the NDIS Reform Bill.

Sophie was direct that reform is needed, but argued this Bill isn’t how you get there. Some of what stood out:

→ Women make up around half of people with disability in Australia, but only 38% of NDIS participants - a gap she linked to underdiagnosis and assessment tools that miss real need.

→ Requiring people to show they’ve tried “all appropriate treatment” before accessing support risks becoming a “pay to prove” model, in a system where most of her community already report going without care due to cost.

→ Cutting social and community participation support risks removing a genuine safety mechanism for women with disability, given how strongly isolation is linked to risk of violence and neglect.

→ The Bill moves ahead of the foundational supports the 2023 NDIS Review said needed to come first - reform sequenced backwards, in her words.

Her ask wasn’t to stop reform, but to do it properly: a public gender impact assessment, supports outside the Scheme built before changes are made inside it, and genuine partnership with the disability community in shaping what comes next.

Australian Multicultural Women's Alliance (AMWA) endorsed WWDA’s submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into this Bill earlier this year, on the same basis - that the proposed changes carry real risk for women, girls and gender-diverse people with disability, as participants, unpaid carers and the paid workforce.

AMWA was so proud to be able to see our fellow National Women’s Alliance member Sophie speak and continue WWDA’s advocacy so eloquently on the stage.

Watch Sophie’s speech here: https://buff.ly/ro06HBU

Full address available here on NPC Podcast - https://lnkd.in/gTaX9RKs

28/08/2026

Australian Multicultural Women's Alliance (AMWA) Executive Director, Malini Raj, attended Garma Festival on Gumatj Country in north-east Arnhem Land over the last few days.

There’s a lot still to process and take in but just sharing some some initial reflections in the context of AMWA’s own work.

One thread she keeps returning to is the women. The generosity of knowledge, shared so openly. Women holding ceremony, holding community, holding healing spaces, holding each other often through the hardest realities, and rarely with the recognition to match it.

Their leadership looked nothing like the individual, title-driven model we’re so used to, but collective, carried together rather than held by one person alone.

What resonated was the knowledge itself - ancient, and generational, passed hand to hand rather than written down, still alive and still being taught and alongside it, a genuine pride in culture, and real innovation happening at the community level with people building solutions on their own terms, not waiting for permission.

Garma brought together an extraordinary spectrum of people, elders and children, national leaders. Pacific leaders and community members, all sitting in the same space.

The leadership that stayed and was most profound was First Nations leadership elders and Traditional Owners whose authority needed no title at all, and whose generosity in sharing it with everyone there was humbling.

Every thread here - leadership, knowledge transfer, culture, community connects directly to AMWA’s own work, and we’ll be unpacking those connections further in the reflections to come.

Thanks once again to Reconciliation Australia for the opportunity



Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia - FECCA
SSI - Settlement Services International SydWestcares intouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence

28/08/2026

This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers officially launched the Women's Employment and Skills Pathways (WESP) program at SSI's Logan Hub in Queensland - a first-of-its-kind service helping migrant women navigate Australia's skills and qualifications recognition system.

This matters and aligns to our Activate Her Skills report produced in partnership between Australian Multicultural Women's Alliance (AMWA) SSI and the Activate Australia's Skills campaign found that more than 340,000 migrant and refugee women in Australia are working below their skill and qualification level. Not because they lack capability, but because the system they're navigating was never built with them in mind.

Our national survey of migrant and refugee women told us why:
→ 59% said lengthy, unclear timelines were a major barrier
→ 56% said cost was prohibitive — assessments, licensing, English tests and bridging courses can run into the tens of thousands of dollars
→ 37% pointed to excessive paperwork and rigid administrative demands
→ Only 41% were working in a role highly related to their overseas qualifications

These barriers are not gender-neutral. Migrant women make up 62% of secondary visa applicants, which means their skills are too often invisible from the very first step of the migration process assessed less, supported less, and left to navigate a fragmented system largely on their own while also carrying the disproportionate weight of caring responsibilities.

The result, as the women in our report told us, is careers stalled, confidence eroded, and for some a heightened vulnerability to financial and domestic abuse. This is a gender equity and safety issue, not only a workforce one.

That is precisely why our report called for skills recognition navigators and employment hubs to give migrant women tailored, practical guidance through the recognition process - one of four system-wide reforms we recommended alongside national oversight, an integrated migration-to-employment pathway, and targeted financial support.

WESP is a genuine, welcome step toward that vision. It shows what's possible when navigation support is built into the system rather than left to individual women to find on their own.

But one pilot program, however important, is not systemic reform. Australia still needs the full suite of changes we set out in Activate Her Skills: national governance and oversight, an integrated recognition-to-employment pathway, and affordable, transparent processes for every migrant woman - not just those who can access a program like this one.

We congratulate SSI, the Minderoo Foundation and everyone driving WESP forward - Gulnara, Violet, Dane. And we'll keep advocating until every migrant woman in Australia - wherever she lives, whatever her profession - has a clear, fair and affordable path to work at the level of her skill.

📄 Read the Activate Her Skills report: https://shorturl.at/Rbz0v
📰 Read about the WESP launch: https://shorturl.at/payxv

A pioneering program that supports migrant women to navigate the skills and qualifications recognition system will launch in Queensland this week. The

28/08/2026

The Office for Women hosted the annual National Women’s Alliances Forum in Canberra in late July.

It was a great opportunity to bring the lived experiences and perspectives of multicultural women from across the country to national policy conversations.

The forum focused on a range of key policy priorities impacting women across Australia including the development of the Second Action Plan of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032.

By working collaboratively and bringing women’s lived experiences and diverse perspectives directly into policy discussions, the forum helps ensure government initiatives are better designed to improve safety, economic security and opportunities of women across Australia.

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia - FECCA Working with Women Alliance, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (NATSIWA), National Rural Women's Coalition, Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA)

28/08/2026

In a still-unfolding disaster, verified videos and images show widespread destruction and a desperate rescue mission.

31/07/2026

"𝗠𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀" is a new program funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, which aims to raise awareness of miscarriage (including what miscarriage is, how common it is, and the impacts miscarriage can have) to make space for more open conversation, understanding and compassion.

Research shows that even though miscarriage affects many people, often others don’t know what to say or do when someone they know experiences it - so they say nothing.

This can make miscarriage a lonely experience.

Help drive conversations and increase the compassion needed to de-stigmatise miscarriage and early pregnancy loss by 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗸𝗶𝘁: https://cloud.think-hq.com.au/s/DqQeZ6sT5nxk9NP?dir=/&editing=false&openfile=true

The kit includes links to the factsheets, posters, social media tiles and audio recordings. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵.