2010 SA Refugee Week Forum

Research & Innovation in Humanitarian Settlement

Monday 21 June 2010

 AUDIO recording available here 

Bradley Forum, UniSA City West campus, Hawke Building level 5, 50-55 North Terrace, Adelaide

Jointly presented by the Migrant Resource Centre of South Australia and the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre

Speaker Biographies 

Mr Hieu Van Le AO is the Chairman of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission (SAMEAC). He has been appointed as Chairman to 31 December 2011.  In August 2007, Mr Le became the Lieutenant Governor of South Australia. He has been a member of the SAMEAC since 1995, including three years as Deputy Chairman and, since 1 January 2007, as Chairman.

A Vietnamese born, Mr Le is the first person of Asian background to hold the position of Chairman of the SAMEAC.  He is also a Member of the Community Engagement Board and Patron or an Honorary Member of a number of organisations.

• Australian Chinese Medical Association (SA)
• Chinatown Adelaide
• OzAsia Festival
• Churchill Fellows Association of SA Inc.
• Migrant Resource Centre of South Australia Inc
• Rotary Club Adelaide South
• Australian Hellenic Education Progressive Association
• Hong Kong Australia Business Association - SA Chapter
• Anti-Poverty Week
• SA Ethnic Schools Board
• University of Adelaide 18th Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) Conference July 2010
• Chinatown of Adelaide S.A. Inc.
• Campania Sports and Social Club (Sons of Italy) Community Centre
• Multicultural Festival of South Australia Inc.

Mr Le has a Degree in Economics and a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Adelaide in South Australia.  He is a former senior Manager with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).  He is a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) and a Fellow Member of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia). 

Mr Le is a recipient of the 1996 Australia Day Medal for outstanding service to the ASIC and has been awarded the Centenary of Federation Medal for service to the advancement of multiculturalism. On 16th December 2008, Hieu was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Adelaide for his contribution and services to the community. He was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) on 26 January 2010, Australia Day.  

Christopher Callanan joined the Department in 1979 and served in a number of positions throughout the Department's New South Wales offices.

In 1989, he was posted to Hong Kong where he served as Senior Migration Officer (SMO) and Principal Migration Officer (PMO) until 1993. In 1994, Christopher became the PMO in Athens, and he served in this position until 1997.  Following his posting to Athens, Christopher returned to Australia and joined the Department's National Office in Canberra, working in Humanitarian Branch where he had responsibility for Humanitarian Settlement.

In 2001 he headed off overseas once again, this time being posted to Bangkok as Regional Director where he was DIAC's senior representative with responsibility for Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan and Korea.

Christopher joined the Victorian office in late 2003 as Director, Onshore Protection Branch. In this position he was responsible for Victoria's Ministerial Intervention Unit and the Protection visa stream. Christopher also established Victoria's Offshore Humanitarian Processing Centre (OHPC), when it was decided that Melbourne would commence processing all Humanitarian applications that originated from the Middle East.  Christopher was promoted to the position of Deputy State Director in the Victorian office in 2005. In this position he had oversight responsibility for many of the Department's operations including, skilled entry, citizenship and visa services, family migration, the Melbourne Contact Centre, refugee and humanitarian processing, the National Character Consideration Centre, the Global Feedback Unit, corporate operations and Border Security and Investigations.

Christopher was transferred to the South Australian Office as State Director in August 2009. In addition to his state director role he has taken on the role of Global Manager (Operational Integrity) responsible for a range of integrity-related functions across Australia and in DIAC's overseas network.

Graeme Hugo is ARC Australian Professorial Fellow, Professor of the Department of Geographical and Environmental Studies and Director of the National Centre for Social Applications of Geographic Information Systems at the University of Adelaide.  His research interests are in population issues in Australia and South East Asia, especially migration.

His books include Australia's Changing Population (Oxford University Press), The Demographic Dimension in Indonesian Development (with T. H. Hull, V. J. Hull and G. W. Jones, Oxford University Press), International Migration Statistics: Guidelines for Improving Data Collection Systems (with A.S. Oberai, H. Zlotnik and R. Bilsborrow, International Labour Office), Worlds in Motion: Understanding International Migration at Century's End (with D. S. Massey, J. Arango, A Kouaouci, A. Pellegrino and J. E. Taylor, Oxford University Press), several of the 1986, 1991 and 1996 census based Atlas of the Australian People Series (AGPS), Australian Immigration: A Survey of the Issues (with M. Wooden, R. Holton and J. Sloan, AGPS), New Forms of Urbanisation: Beyond the Urban-Rural Dichotomy (with A. Champion, Ashgate) and Australian Census Analytic Program: Australia's Most Recent Immigrants (Australian Bureau of Statistics).

In 2002 he secured an ARC Federation Fellowship over five years for his research project, "The new paradigm of international migration to and from Australia: dimensions, causes and implications". His recent research has focused on migration and development, environment and migration and migration policy. 

In 2009 he was awarded an ARC Australian Professorial Fellowship over five years for his research project "Circular migration in Asia, the Pacific and Australia: Empirical, theoretical and policy dimensions".

Researchers: Dr Helena de Anstiss; Professor Michael Sawyer and Associate Professor Peter Baghurst

Dr Tahereh Ziaian, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of South Australia

The Mental Health Status of Children and Adolescents of Refugee Background Research Outcomes
This research investigated mental health and wellbeing among refugee children and adolescents, their use of services, and their resilience characteristics which enable good social adjustment despite experiences of adversity. The research targeted over 500 participants aged 4-17 years from the top humanitarian arrival groups in Australia. This presentation presents some of the preliminary findings.

Dr Tahereh Ziaian is a senior lecturer and course co-ordinator in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. She is a Community Health Psychologist in the area of transcultural mental health with 20 years of qualitative and quantitative research experience in the primary health care and mental health areas both in private and public settings.

Dr Helena de Anstiss was until recently the Director of Multicultural Youth South Australia, the State advisory, advocacy and service delivery body for multicultural children, adolescents and young people. She currently works as a researcher and consultant for various agencies.

Professor Michael Sawyer is the Head of the Research and Evaluation Unit at the Women's and Children's Hospital, Professor, Discipline of Paediatrics at the University of Adelaide. He was the lead investigator of the Child and Adolescent Component of the National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being in Australia. He is currently lead investigator of the research team responsible for evaluating the beyondblue Schools Research Initiative.

Associate Professor Peter Baghurst is the Head of Public Health Research Unit at the Women's and Children's Hospital. He researches the factors determining health service utilisation by children and their families, and the epidemiology of children's health problems, with particular emphasis on mental health.

Eugenia Tsoulis is the Chief Executive Officer of the Migrant Resource Centre of South Australia and directs the SAMCSS Consortium that settles new arrival humanitarian entrants in this state. Eugenia has extensive experience in policy and service development, research and advocacy and her main areas of interest are the advancement of human rights and social inclusion particularly for young people, women and new immigrants in multicultural Australia. Her extensive work experience spans the Mental Health, Education (both secondary and tertiary), arts and employment and training sectors. 

Supported by

2010 Refugee Week Committee

Migrant Resource Centre of SA (Convener)

Adelaide Festival Centre Trust - African Communities Council of SA - City of Charles Sturt - City of Prospect - City of West Torrens - Department of Immigration & Citizenship - English Language Services TAFESA - Families SA Refugee Services - Limestone Coast MRC - LM Training Specialists - Middle Eastern Communities Council of SA - Migrant Health Services - MRC Arts - Multicultural SA - Multicultural YouthLink of SA - Murraylands MRC - Murraylands Multicultural Network - Northern Area MRC - Northern Health Services - Salisbury - Penguin Club of Australia (SA)

While the views presented by speakers within the Hawke Centre public program are their own and are not necessarily those of either the University of South Australia or The Hawke Centre, they are presented in the interest of open debate and discussion in the community and reflect our themes of: strengthening our democracy - valuing our cultural diversity - and building our future.