About the event:

It has been over a month since the 2022 Federal election and we've seen the most diverse parliament ever elected in the history of Australian politics. The data our organisation COMPELL collected, showed only 8% of MPs elected in the house of representatives are from an ethnically diverse background. While our data has been widely reported by major newspapers/publications and the results celebrated widely as being an achievement. We at COMPELL believe 8% is hardly a representation of the estimated 50% of Australia which is reportedly multicultural.

In fact, the latest census data reveals that Australia is only becoming more multicultural as the years go by. So what do the latest election results and census data reveal to us about our community and what does it all mean for our collective future?

COMPELL has invited a group of diverse experts who will speak on their areas of expertise and do a deep dive into what the latest results means for various sub-groups.

The event is FREE and will be recorded.

Our Guest Panelists:

Kat Henaway - CEO, Politics in Colour

Kat was born and raised in Indigenous communities in Far North Queensland and is a descendent of the Mer and Mua peoples of the Torres Strait Islands. With 30+ years’ experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander engagement, today, Kat is an Indigenous Business Advisor with an outstanding record of success in unlocking capital for Indigenous businesses. This experience ignited her passion to design social change through business innovation which saw her launch Blax Capital, Women’s Business and Politics in Colour. With a strong desire to amplify women of colour in leadership, Kat volunteered with UN Women (Sydney 2013) and currently holds leadership roles with Women for Election Australia and Women and Leadership Australia.

Dr.Sukhmani Khorana - Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Sydney

Dr. Khorana is a Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Sydney and is based at the Young and Resilient Research Centre. She has extensive experience in collaborating with community organisations and artists on projects benefiting diverse communities. Dr. Khorana is a CI on a current ARC Linkage Project, 'Migration, Cultural Diversity and Television: Reflecting Modern Australia', is the Australian node leader of the international 'Justice, Arts and Migration' network, and a member of the Executive Board of the Asian Australian Studies Research Network.Dr. Khorana is a 1.5 generation Indian-Australian with 15 years of teaching experience in universities across Adelaide, Brisbane, Wollongong and Sydney. Her area of expertise is media and politics, so she is well-trained in working with diverse communities as well as understanding how the media and political class produce messages.

Noel Zihabamwe - Human Rights Advocate and Founder, African Australian Advocacy Centre

Noël Zihabamwe is the Founder and current Chairperson of the African Australian Advocacy Centre. He is also the former President of Federation of Rwandan Communities of Australia (FRCA), former Chairman of Rwandan Community NSW, and current Treasurer for Lower North Shore Multicultural Network (LNSM) and Africa Health Australia (AHA). Noel Zihabamwe is also advisory Committee Member for the Australian Human Rights Institute at University of NSW

Noel is a human rights advocate and community leader with a wealth of experience in the not-for-profit sector and in multicultural community advocacy, leadership, community capacity building, settlement services, research, and project implementation.

Menaka Cooke - Executive Coach and Director of the Older Women’s Network NSW

Menaka Iyengar Cooke is an Executive Coach and Facilitator in private practice. She consults in Change management, Cross-cultural communication, Organisation Behaviour and various Workplace concerns including Diversity and Inclusion. She has recently facilitated training programs for Women in Film & TV NSW and Screen Producers Australia (Sexual Harassment in the workplace); Ericsson (Cross-cultural Communication); WCEI NSW (Dealing with Difficult People); Indigenous leadership at an Aboriginal Land Corporation. She is a tertiary Educator (Australian College of Applied Psychology) in Ethics, Organisation Behaviour, Social Policy, Contemporary Culture; (Charles Sturt University) Bachelor of Business Studies and TAFE’s Diploma and Advanced Diploma of Management and HR Management.

She is the current President of the Older Women’s Network, Sydney and is a board member at Women’s Electoral Lobby, Economic Security for Women and Indian (sub-continent) Crisis Support Agency. She is the past President of Women Chiefs of Enterprises International, NSW, and has served on various boards in community services and not-for-profit organisations. She recently published her memoir ‘Monsoon Woman’ (Balboa Press, 2019, available on Amazon and Google books). She works as a social activist and commentator on political, social and cultural issues in order to bring about community change.

Anka Sahin - Immigration Law Advisor and Political Commentator, COMPELL

Anka is a well-known and senior practitioner in immigration law and is the most prolific contributor to the MIA Forum for Registered Migration Agents since its inception in 2002. Between 2010 and 2012, Anka successfully and single-handedly lobbied the Immigration Advisers Authority (IAA) in New Zealand to adopt a Māori name as well as institute a standard Māori term for ‘Licensed Immigration Adviser’.

Anka is currently COMPELL'S immigration law advisor as well as our regular political opinion contributor. During the webinar, Anka will talk about the impact of the new government and census data on migration issues.