Asylum seekers at the election front line
Asylum seekers witnessed democracy in action on election day, Saturday November 29, when they supported new and emerging communities to vote at several inner-urban voting centres.
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) recruited 23 multilingual election staff as part of the Brotherhood of St Laurence's Given the Chance program , which supports asylum seekers with work rights to find paid employment.
Program manager Angus Blackburn said the staff were shortlisted based on the number of languages spoken as well as English, and their relevance to new communities within the local area.
These languages include French, Spanish, Hindi, Swahili and Arabic as well as dialects including Cameroon, Swahili, Ethiopian and Gambian, Amharic, Yoruba, Persian, Dari, Hazaragi, Farsi, Pashto, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi.
Asylum seekers worked at Atherton Gardens, Fitzroy Town Hall, Richmond Town Hall and in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, in roles such as voting centre assistant, counting officer, queue control, ballot box guard, office assistant and a mobile voting officer.
'The asylum seekers that we help are very motivated to work and learn about working in Australia,' Mr Blackburn says. 'They are a diverse group with a whole range of experience from professional roles to skilled labour.'
Electoral Commissioner Warwick Gately said that by recruiting these staff the VEC were able to support a large number of new citizens, many of whom voted in their first State election and so may lack confidence or knowledge. 'To have someone assist them in their own language will banish the fear of struggling with language to ask for help,' Mr Gately said.
Given the Chance - workforce solutions that matter is a free service available to businesses and employers to assist in the recruitment of skilled workers from diverse backgrounds.