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2010 Annual General Meeting and Public Forum
Brisbane, Tuesday 16 November 2010

The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) held its 2010 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Public Forum in Brisbane on Tuesday, November 16. Five board positions were up for election, with existing board members returned to each position for another two years – Professor William Maley (Vice-President), Lionel Conyer (Treasurer), Maureen Adamson (individual member representative), Sonia Caton and Bobby Whitfield (organisational member representatives).

Senator Kate Lundy, Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Citizenship, delivered a speech at the AGM in which she commended the work of RCOA as providing "a social dividend from which all Australians benefit." Senator Lundy’s speech is available on our Speeches page.

As the first RCOA AGM to be held in Queensland, the meeting provided an opportunity to share information and canvass views on critical refugee settlement and asylum policy issues with our Queensland-based members and supporters.  At the two public forums held prior to and after the AGM, discussions focused on refugee settlement issues, as part of RCOA’s annual consultations on the Refugee and Humanitarian Program; and key challenges in asylum policy, including immigration detention policies and international discussions regarding an Asia-Pacific regional refugee protection framework. On the Monday evening prior to the AGM, an additional consultation was held to gather feedback on a range of issues from refugee communities and service providers in Brisbane.

Previous Annual General Meetings

On Tuesday 17 November 2009, the Refugee Council of Australia held its Annual General Meeting at Melbourne's Multicultural Hub, with the nature of Australia's engagement with Indonesia on asylum seeker issues and the question of post-arrival cultural orientation for refugees explored at public forums held in conjunction with the AGM.

Five board positions were up for election, with existing board members returned to each position for another two years - John Gibson (president), Sky de Jersey (secretary), Dr Melika Sheikh-Eldin, Paris Aristotle and Jenny Semple. Motions moved at the AGM included a call for the Australian Government to make an immediate allocation of 500 additional resettlement places (see item above) and a call for the needs of people in protracted refugee situations in Africa and elsewhere not to be forgotten in discussions about Australia's resettlement priorities.

Speakers at the public forum on regional cooperation were Professor James Hathaway (Melbourne University Law School), Dr Savitri Taylor, (La Trobe University) and Dr Elizabeth Biok (RCOA Board), while those speaking on cultural orientation for refugees were Haileluel Gebre-Selassie (2008 Churchill Fellow), Annerose Reiner (Foundation House) and Margaret Neil (ACCES Services Inc). A synopsis of the forum can be downloaded here.

2008 Annual General Meeting and Public Forum
Monday, November 17, 2008 – Sydney

The 2008 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) was held on Monday, November 17, 2008 at Parramatta Town Hall, NSW. The AGM was preceded by an address by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, on “Refugee Policy Under the Rudd Government”. For a copy of the Minister's speech, click here.

Two new organisational Board members were elected at the 2008 AGM - Sonia Caton, Director of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service in Queensland, and Bobby Whitfield, President of the Queensland African Communities Council.

Maureen Adamson, Lionel Conyer and Professor William Maley AM were re-elected to the Board.

The Council paid tribute to retiring Board member and chairperson, Barbara Young AO, who was honored with life membership. Barbara has served the organisation with distinction as a Board member since 1992. Esta Paschalidis-Chilas was elected as the Board's new chairperson.