After the fires, the pandemic, the casual cruelty that has now become public policy – we are a nation adrift. We are caught between a shy hope for something better and a certainty that things are somehow getting worse. We are not who we were.

There was a time, only 30 years ago, when Australia was considered the best and brightest in the world of human rights, in our capacity to offer protection to those fleeing persecution. We were a capable, smart country, alive with a shared imagination of what we could yet be. That moment has passed.

In our pursuit of a relaxed and comfortable nation we have become ground-zero for the externalisation of national security, the application of the most appalling refugee policy, and the envy of people like Donald Trump.

Where to from here?

Could it be possible for us to return to a moment past, an older Australia and again imagine who we really could be. Who we could be if we confronted the reality of this regime, heard the voices of those who survived it, and together imagined a new Australia. One capable of imagination, courage, and a sustaining love. Imagine what that Australia would look like. Imagine the road we could travel to that Australia.

On the 7th of March in celebration of International Woman’s Day, four women will take us on that journey. A journey from melancholia to imagination.

Our guest speakers include:

Khatereh Nazari - Poet and Writer, Nauru Island Survivor

Dr. Rimple Mehta - Senior Lecturer at Western Sydney University, School of Social Sciences

Noor Azizah - Co-founder and Director, Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network

Dr. Paula Sanchez - Senior Lecturer at Western Sydney University, School of Nursing and Midwifery

Moderated by:

Dr. Julie Macken - Justice and Peace Facilitator at the Justice and Peace Office (JPO), for the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney