CEO, Alex Surf Club

Medal of Order (OAM)

He / him

I have lived on the Sunshine Coast for nearly 65 years. My dad originally arrived here at the age of one in 1918, my mum arrived here in 1922 as a baby.

Born in Nambour, my mother’s origin is unknown as she was adopted. My father is of Anglo-Saxon, Catholic descent. My DNA test revealed, I am 35 per cent mix of Asian, Eastern Bloc and Mongolian heritage.

I have worked on the Sunshine Coast most of my life. Previously, I have lived in Western Australia and Longreach for one year. I have been in hospitality since 1976 and management since 1988. For the first 30 years of my life, I have been involved in sport on the coast as a participant in league, cricket, water polo, AFL and tennis. For the last 20 years I have been a Sports Administrator. Currently, I am the CEO at Alex Surf Club and Chairman of the SC Falcons. I am Chairman of the Sports Hub, a member of Sports Awards judging committee, and member of the Henzell’s Foundation. I am a Co-Founder of Island Charity Swim; which has raised over 1.5 million for kids with disabilities.

Why did you become a patron for this campaign?

Community is a big part of my life, seeing the difficulties our community faces and hopefully helping those that are not so lucky. I have a desire for fairness, equality, and acceptance. I ache about this issue and want to be a part of making change for the better.

I have always felt as a region we could be more inclusive to not only new arrivals, but multicultural issues as well. I accepted this role as a patron and as an ally, as I acknowledged I too could and should do better.

When I travelled to India and was part of building an orphanage, I became self-aware and recognised that I had previously been racist. I had a real light bulb moment, and I was humbled by the beautiful people over there, and since then have tried to be far more aware of other people’s culture and heritage, I hope I can continue that.

Registered Nurse

Multicultural Advisory Group Member

Host of HER Festival

Founding President of Sunshine Coast Chinese Association

She / her

Living in the Sunshine Coast for 8 years. I am an Australian permanent resident and identify culturally as a Chinese. Currently, I am a busy mum of two and work part-time as a registered nurse. Outside of nursing, I am the former founding president and current executive committee member of the Sunshine Coast Chinese Association (SCCA). I am also a member of the council's Multicultural Advisory Group and promoting community engagement, community development, multiculturalism, and connecting diverse cultural groups to the local communities.

After founding SCCA, I found my passion and knew where I belonged. I struggled to find my identity for many years since I came to Australia because I felt I was neither Chinese nor Australian.

Why did you become a patron for this campaign?

In the past I have personally received multiple experiences of different forms of racism. Even more so since COVID happened, racism dramatically increased towards the Asian community during this period. One example of this was a flyer displayed in a hospital that contained racist messages. I raised these issues with the MAG and arranged a conversation with the victims and other community advocates. The outcome of this was the posters were removed and better understanding of racism was gained.

Since my children have been born, I have been motivated and proactive to make change, founding the SCCA with friends. I have felt a duty of care to help the Chinese community.

As an individual, I believe every human being deserves to be treated equally and respectfully despite cultural, social, religious, or political background. As a community development advocate and a registered nurse, I have practiced and will continue to act accordingly to the principle of social justice, valuing an individual’s unique culture, social and economic equity. I actively participate in building a better community

My main motivation for change is my children they are of a mixed culture. I want to advocate change in racism to create a better life for them.

Multicultural Advisory Group Member

Committee member of African Diaspora Sunshine Coast

He / him

I am an Australian Citizen and identify my cultural background as from African descent. Born originally in the former British Southern Cameroons of West Africa, my wife and I decided to move back to Australia in 2010 from Europe. My wife originally grew up on the Sunshine Coast and wanted to call the region home again. I enjoy life with my wife and two boys, treasuring the little moments together. We prepare culturally traditional dishes as a family, and enjoy eating together, playing card games, adventuring outdoors, long family cuddles, and lots of Afro music dance-offs!

I have lived on three continents, studied three degrees, and gained experience in more than seven industries. My professional career of over 19 years has developed experiences, knowledge, and skills from working as a soldier, teacher, professional organiser, manager, CEO, leader and as a volunteer. Throughout my life, my pursuit has always been about relationships keeping people and the community at the epicentre of what’s most valuable. I am a critical thinker, and I am passionate about justice for the disadvantaged.

In the last 12 years I have been proactive in gathering the African Diaspora Community together, leading me to build strong relationships within the entire Multicultural community. Through this I identified social integration challenges and the need for stronger relationships within the wider community. My vision is more programs and opportunities are created that support the Multicultural community on the Sunshine Coast.

This year’s Summer and Winter Multicultural 7-Aside Football brought together around 400 players and spectators from all diverse backgrounds on the Sunshine Coast. The benefit of social integration festivities like these that welcome and celebrate everyone brings a real uplifting spirit amongst the community. To see young children of all backgrounds playing together on the side of the field does not go unnoticed. We are inspired to do more for the children in the multicultural community at the end of year event.

Why did you become a patron for this campaign?

It is important to me that people see and understand the psychological impact racism has on the community. Racism can fly under the radar and is known to reduce productivity in businesses and communities.

If change is going to take place, change takes action, action requires compassion, and compassion requires information and awareness.

I became a patron because I believe that to fight racism it must be a community-based approach. The African Diaspora Community and I, need the community as allies to rise together and stand and call out racism. The campaign is one way I can call on the community to “do the work” with us. To stand up. To speak up. I strongly believe we should not be silent on this.

The psychological impact and loss are not only felt by the victims but the entire community. For instance, in the health sector, if our best medical personnel from multicultural backgrounds are not wanting to live and work in our region because of not feeling safe to be themselves, feeling excluded or experiencing fear of racial abuse, then it is our community missing out. This is a loss to us all. These individuals represent a culturally diverse range of ideals, perspectives, and experiences that enriches our healthcare system and our community. This is the same in all industries.

As a person that has experienced racism in many forms over the last two decades, I know how much it hurts not just for myself but for people in my community and I have become a patron to speak on their behalf. Community members are worried that nothing is ever going to change. Awareness of change in our relationships to do with racism needs to happen, to assist those people in the Multicultural Community with their health and wellbeing. I encourage you to stand up and do the work. Support our multicultural communities that supports our community.

CEO, Cygnet Centre for Peacebuilding & Transformation Ltd

A proud Wakka Wakka Aboriginal Woman

Christine is an experienced social worker, restorative practitioner, public speaker, educator, and leader who has worked with vulnerable and marginalised communities for over 25 years.

As a proud descendant of the Wakka Wakka people. Christine is dedicated to working in and across all levels of community in the pursuit of social justice and the building of strong inclusive and empowered communities.

Christine is currently co-chair of the Sunshine Coast First Nations Network (SC1NG), a position elected by the community. As an Aboriginal First Nations woman Christine is committed to healing in community and has worked on local, national and international levels in the areas of racism, cross cultural practice, trauma informed practice, restorative justice, restorative practice, human rights and peace initiatives. Christine holds extensive program development experience and an outstanding record of building networks and partnerships to foster innovation and increase impact on the community.

For 25 years Christine has been a dedicated social change agent, working with a broad range of stakeholders to implement restorative, trauma informed and culturally sensitive practices in different settings, including cross agency projects to achieve this aim.

Why did you become a patron for this campaign?

As a proud Aboriginal Woman, I have experienced and witnessed my fair share of racism. Despite our communities becoming more aware of racism – it still exists and is incredibly destructive to the wellbeing and sustainability of our people and our communities.

I became a patron of this campaign as I strongly believe we need to hold racism in our awareness, in our conversations and be actively working towards addressing anything that creates separation and division in our community. Until we can talk openly and safely about the truth of racism and its existence in our communities, we will be unable to act in ways that address racism at its roots.

We as a country need to accept and understand that racism has been at the foundation of Australian society since the time of colonisation. This foundation is not historical as the process of colonisation and the beliefs that underpin it are enshrined in all areas of society and continue to impact on the way in which power is handled in this country.

Each one of us is responsible for reflecting on how these beliefs and processes play out in our lives – we must commit to a process of unlearning and learning; we must commit to action – calling it out – addressing the policies and processes that maintain the systems of oppression and we must seek every opportunity to create meaningful chance wherever we can in our sphere of influence. This requires each one of us to be courageous.

Director, Sunny Communications

He / him

I was born in a small country town on the South Australian, Victoria border called Mt Gambier. My parents migrated from Italy in the mid-1950s and met in Mt Gambier where they married and raised 5 children while running a number of businesses including a caravan park.

In October 2014, just four months before he passed away, my father was awarded an OAM for his services to the local Mt Gambier community.

I am a proud Australian with strong Italian heritage and while I’ve lived on the Sunshine Coast for the longest period of my life, Mt Gambier is still my spiritual home.

My work background is public relations and marketing, that’s what I studied at university, and it’s been my career since I graduated way back in 1991. I am glad I am quite good at it because I don’t have too many other skills!

After living in Adelaide and Brisbane, my wife and I moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2001 and our first son was born a year later, our second son followed in 2006. The Coast is definitely home for us, I love the lifestyle and the generosity of the local community. We live in a community where you feel compelled to get involved and help out where you can. Some friends who live elsewhere really don’t understand this and think I have higher ambitions, but I don’t. Helping others is part of our region’s DNA.

I joined the inaugural SC Multicultural Advisory Group (MAG) 5 years ago and it’s been a great journey. I wanted to support the local multicultural community and educate myself about racism and how we can make a difference both individually and collectively. I’m particularly inspired by the work my late father did to make Mt Gambier a welcoming place for migrants and refugees and if I can play a similar role here on the Sunshine Coast then that would be incredibly rewarding.

With my role on the Maroochydore Chamber of Commerce, and operating my own business, I like to think I bring a commercial dimension to MAG by creating links to the local business community. I hope this has benefited the national award-winning Migrant Work Ready program which Sunshine Coast Council undertakes in collaboration with the Maroochydore Chamber of Commerce and a number of highly engaged local businesses.

Now in its 5^th year, the Migrant Work Ready program is one of the most rewarding community programs I have been involved with as it has helped transform the lives of our local migrant community and ensure they are ‘work ready’. Many have gone on to find rewarding jobs in their chosen careers which is great for them, and it really benefits our local community both socially and economically.

Somewhere along the line we’ve forgotten that those affected by war, crime, poverty and now climate issues are all human beings placed in unfortunate situations. While my parents were welcomed to Australia when they arrived in the 1950, their journey was not easy. Dad would tell us the story that despite being a qualified mechanic in Italy, his papers were not recognised in Australia so he would visit various local mechanic shops and offer to work for free for a week, sweeping floors doing whatever was required to get a foot in the door, I am sure it was a humbling experience for him, but it certainly drove him onto greater things later in life.

Migrants and refugees are the most courageous people I know. They deserve our respect and support.

Why did you become a patron for this campaign?

Growing up in a regional community of 20,000 people, racism was definitely prevalent, but we never spoke about racism at home. We were taught to be proud of who we were and where we came from and while that was challenging in my teenage years, it has stood me in good stead over the years. I guess I was partly shielded by a large local Italian population in Mt Gambier, and I was fortunate enough to be related in some way or another to the vast majority of them! We also had a big soccer and community club where we could enjoy the very things that make our community unique.

I believe everyone has a responsibility to become anti-racist. I’m sure over the years I’ve said and done some things that I would frown upon now. So, it’s all about public education and understanding that any form of racism is not acceptable. When people say things like, ‘I’m not racist but’ or ‘This is probably going to sound racist but’ then you know everything before the word ‘but’ is a lie! I’m all for a joke and having a good time but this type of comments is not necessary in this day and age.

I also have a simple message for all migrants which has been passed onto me by my father and reinforced by a good friend. These are:

• Learn the local language. This is paramount
• Get involved in the community i.e. sport, charity, school, church etc
• Keep your traditions and culture and share them whenever you can.

Australia is a multicultural country, and we celebrate how successful migrants have integrated into our country. Have we done a good job? Yes. Can we be even better? Absolutely. It all starts with education and acceptance and that’s the role I want to play in our community.