Julian Hill MP delivered an address at the 2024 Irreecha Festival in Melbourne, celebrating community, culture, and resilience.
We are gathered on a vast and ancient continent, home to the world’s oldest continuous living cultures. I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land, the Barong people of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.
I also extend that acknowledgment to the many community lands represented here today, including the vibrant Somali community and others we will recognise shortly.
Long before European settlement or subsequent migrations, First Nations Australians nurtured this land, speaking over 250 languages and practising a rich tapestry of cultural traditions. This reminds us that in many ways, we have always been a multicultural society.
But in the last 50 years, following the abolition of the White Australia policy and the introduction of the Racial Discrimination Act by the Whitlam government, our modern multicultural project has truly flourished. People from across the globe have brought their lives, their hopes, and their heritage to Australia.
And we do not ask them to leave that heritage behind. Quite the opposite. We encourage communities to pass on their languages, their faiths, and their traditions. We see that here today—people of many faiths gathered for an ancient cultural celebration. This is the heart of modern multicultural Australia: the generosity of sharing your traditions with others.
Thank you for sharing Irreecha with me, and for welcoming the wider community into your celebration.
I want to touch briefly on two other matters.
First, I know this continues to be a deeply difficult time for many, with family and friends affected by the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia, particularly in Oromia. Let me be clear: Ethiopia cannot know peace unless Oromia is at peace. There is no military solution to this conflict; only a political one.
While Australia’s direct influence may be limited, we add our voice to the call for diplomacy. We urge all sides to come to the table and negotiate a political solution, because the overwhelming desire of people everywhere is simply to live in peace.
Secondly, we must never take our social cohesion for granted. Being a multi-ethnic, multi-faith, and multilingual society does not automatically make us a successful one. Success requires hard work—it requires policy, investment, and leadership.
A special thanks must go to our community leaders. We need political leadership that focuses on our shared values, and faith leadership that bridges divides. But most of all, we rely on the quiet, dedicated work of community leaders—the ones who organize events like this and who solve small problems before they become big ones. You are the architects of our cohesion.
Thank you for the invitation to be here. I look forward to joining you again next year, and I’m sure we’ll have better weather!
Advocacy for Oromia was established in 2010 with the purpose of enabling and empowering Oromo people by providing accurate and timely information that will help to make better choices to create the kind of future in which they wish to live.
It also provides information focus on the major issues facing us in the 21st century and it is going to try and bring a balanced approach with factual information that is positive and solution based.
The website has been in operation for the last nine years with the mission of promoting and advancing causes of Oromo people through advocacy, community education, information service, capacity building, awareness raising and promotion.
The website is also the official site of Advocacy for Oromia Association in Victoria Australia Inc., a non-profit organisation, registered under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 in Victoria as April 2014.
Our team already had considerable community development experience and expertise. Our various projects helped to develop our confidence and the capacity of our agency. Our team used every gained knowledge, skills and experiences as an opportunity to design and develop new approaches, to documenting progress, supporting positive employment outcomes, liaising with community stakeholders, and conduct evaluation.
Advocacy for Oromia is devoted to establishing Advocacy for Oromia organisation to close the gaps where we can stand for people who are disadvantaged and speaking out on their behalf in a way that represents the best interests of them. We are committed to supporting positive settlement and employment outcomes for Victoria’s Oromo community.
Advocacy for Oromia Office
Addresses:
39 Clow St,
Dandenong VIC 3175
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247-251 Flinders Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000
Activities Address
Springvale Neighbourhood House Inc
Address: 46-50 Queens Ave, Springvale VIC 3171
Postal Address:
P. O. Box 150
Noble Park, Vic 3174
With your support, we can continue to help community build a better future.
Advocacy for Oromia Mental Health Program
The aim of the program is to improving the mental health and well-being of Oromo community in Victoria. It aims to assist those experiencing, mental ill-health, their families and carers of all ages within this community to address the social determinants of mental health for Oromo community. It helps:
Identify and build protective factors,
Reduce stigma and discrimination
Build capacity for self-determination
Better understand mental wellbeing, mental ill-health and the impacts of trauma
The goal of the project is to increase mental health literacy of Oromo community that aims:
To assist people with mental health issues
To increase the capacity of mental health worker
To better understand mental wellbeing
To provide mental health education and information
To address the social and cultural causes of mental health issues
Advocacy for Oromia will organise information session, women performance, radio programs, culturally adopted conversations on Oromo Coffee Drinking ceremony, providing training for mental health guides and forum and producing educational materials on the selected groups and geographical area.
Human Rights Education Program
The Human Rights Education Program is a community based human rights program designed to develop an understanding of everyone’s common responsibility to make human rights a reality in each community.
Human rights can only be achieved through an informed and continued demand by people for their protection. Human rights education promotes values, beliefs and attitudes that encourage all individuals to uphold their own rights and those of others.
The aim of the program is to build an understanding and appreciation for human rights through learning about rights and learning through rights. We aimed at building a universal culture of human rights. Thus, we aimed:
To build an understanding and appreciation for human rights through learning about rights and learning through rights.
To build capacities and sharing good practice in the area of human rights education and training
To develop human rights education and training materials and resources
The goal of the project is to increase human rights literacy of Oromo community that aims:
To better understand human rights
To increase the capacity of human rights worker
To analyse situations in human rights terms
To provide human rights education and information
To develop solidarity
To strategize and implement appropriate responses to injustice.
The ultimate goal of education for human rights is empowerment, giving people the knowledge and skills to take control of their own lives and the decisions that affect them.
Human rights education constitutes an essential contribution to the long-term prevention of human rights abuses and represents an important investment in the endeavour to achieve a just society in which all human rights of all persons are valued and respected.
Advocacy for Oromia will organise information session, performance, radio programs, culturally adopted conversations on Oromo Coffee Drinking ceremony, providing training for Human Rights guides and forum and producing educational materials on the selected groups and geographical area.
Community Safety Program
The program aims to strengthen existing collaborations and identify opportunities for the development of partnerships aimed at community safety and crime prevention activities. This approach seeks to improve the individual and collective quality of life by addressing concerns regarding the wider physical and social environment. Importantly, community safety means addressing fear of crime and perceptions of safety as without this any actions to address the occurrence of crime and anti-social behaviour are of less value.
Advocacy for Oromia 