Meetings
New members are welcome to attend meetings and join Nangami.
2022
In view of the on-going COVID-19 situation, we are carrying on our activities via on-line communication. On-site meetings have been suspended.
PAST MEETINGS
2020
24 AUGUST 2020
25 AUGUST 2020
We held on-line meetings to review recent advocacy activities and discuss action for World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2020
Review of the letters that were drafted and emailed to our MPs over June-July (see below) and the status of responses
Discussion of possible follow-ups
World Day of Refugees and Migrants 2020: We agreed to work with JRS and the Archdiocese in holding a public webinar
possible speakers, chair, panel for a conversation
cooperation with Hunters Hill parish
e-petition on Anti-Slavery legislation: Dr Anne Noonan
MAY-JUNE-JULY 2020
Members have joined in drafting advocacy letters to our State MP for North Shore and the Federal MPs for Warringah and for North Sydney:
2019
19 DECEMBER 2019
Members heard reports on advocacy to the Federal MPs for North Sydney and Warringah, on the issue of SRSS cuts. We got a good hearing from both MPs. We will follow up with the MPs as part of our on-going advocacy efforts.
Members discussed engaging with parishioners in other electorates to spread the advocacy work on the SRSS cuts issue. The Sydney Archdiocese Justice and Peace Office has been very helpful in establishing communications with other parishes to assist the spread of work in this area.
We discussed organising an event for the parish with a speaker to engage the parish in a discussion of reconciliation action.
OCTOBER 2019
Members reviewed advocacy meetings with the Federal MP for North Sydney and with the staff of the Federal MP for Warringah; heard from members who had been involved in organising the Action for the Climate Emergency forum; reported on participation in the Global Climate Strike; and discussed follow up actions.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019
During August, Nangami members worked with the Ecology group at OLW via email and telephone to plan the Action for the Climate Emergency community forum.
On September 3 the core group of Nangami members working on this initiative held a planning meeting to finalise the arrangements for the forum. See the Events page for full details of the forum.
JULY/AUGUST 2019
The Nangami advocacy teams met prior to their meetings with the Federal MP for North Sydney and the staff of the Federal Member for Warringah.
12 JUNE 2019
The Nangami group met to discuss how we plan and prepare for meetings with our MPs to advocate a reversal of the cuts to the Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) program that supports people seeking asylum who are in Australia.
See this article in Eureka Street for some background information.
Nishadh Rego of Jesuit Refugee Services led us through a first round of preparation. We are forming small teams of 5-10 people, with members being from the electorates of Warringah and North Sydney, to approach our Federal members on this issue.
22 MAY 2019
Movie night at the Ron Dyer Centre: Wednesday 22 May, 7 pm – 9 pm
This featured Jolyon Hoff’s documentary The Staging Post followed by a discussion and Q&A. This movie follows the journey of two Afghan Hazara refugees who ended up in Indonesia; it is a story of hope, courage, and connection.
See the Events page for full details.
14 APRIL 2019
Julian Gormly organised a group of fellow parishioners to march under the banner of saying yes to refugees, peace, justice and unity in the Palm Sunday March on April 14.
10 APRIL 2019
We held a review and planning meeting, focusing on two issues: raising awareness and advocacy.
We are screening a movie in May to raise awareness; the group discussed how to run the evening, concluding that we would charge a low ticket price to encourage as many people to attend as possible, while also raising money for a good cause.
The advocacy group discussed how to lobby federal and state members on the impact of the Status Resolution Support System (SRSS) cuts.
14 MARCH 2019
Following up from the North Sydney Affordable Housing Forum at OLW, Nangami members attended the Affordable Housing Assembly at Sydney Town Hall. See the Events page for details.
13 FEBRUARY 2019
North Sydney Affordable Housing Community Forum:
Facilitated by Geraldine Doogue. An initiative of Sydney Alliance and St Vincent de Paul.
Many people in our community are struggling to pay rent, to find an affordable place to live and some are at risk of homelessness.
Members heard from the panel of speakers on this critical issue and then participated in the discussion on how to make affordable housing a reality in our community.
16 JANUARY 2019
Julian Gormly opened the meeting by sharing the story of a former Sri Lankan client and his experience with the Refugee Review Tribunal. It was a heartbreaking account and showed how complex each case can be as the man’s testimony was considered implausible due to gaps in the story. Hence his application for asylum was repeatedly rejected; finally a medical scan revealed that due to a blow to his head (experienced in jail), he had a brain impairment.
Margaret spoke about her visits to Villawood detention centre to teach English to people seeking asylum.
Nish Rego from the Jesuit Refugee Services Policy and Advocacy team lead a discussion on plans for 2019 for the Advocacy team.
Civil society actions have forced the government to respond, such as in the recent Kids off Nauru campaign.
According to a 2015 report by Millwood Consulting on refugee advocacy, 5.4 million people identified as Catholics in the last census which represents 25.3% of the country’s population. Clearly there is great potential in our parish alone to effect change and raising awareness is an excellent starting point.
In our discussion, it was agreed that Nangami will consider its next two meetings (February and March) as participation in the Affordable Housing conversation.
13 DECEMBER 2018
Stafford Sanders, Campaigns Coordinator for United Social Justice Forum, gave a detailed presentation to us on advocating on social justice issues to our elected government representatives.
14 NOVEMBER 2018
We had 25 people in attendance and we broke up into groups to discuss the actions suggested at the Table Talk.
The suggested actions fell into the following areas :
Employment,
Advocacy,
Raising Awareness,
Fundraising/Volunteering/Outreach,
Parish Sponsorship
Youth.
A small group then discussed each of these. A few concrete actions emerged:
The Advocacy group wants to spread the word about the strength of Table Talks among their networks and encourage other parishes to organise one.
The Raising Awareness group wants to develop a calendar of events in the parish beginning in January. The first event could be a movie night with a $10 entrant with funds going to JRS, followed by a discussion.
The Youth group have initiated having a Table Talk at a local primary school with Sydney Alliance and JRS.