Chairperson’s report 1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024
Circles of Friends has been busy, as always, over this past year with four new circles set up and one reactivated. Our combined income and expenditure were both over $500,000. We welcome the new Circles doing their important work – supporting families from Gaza, supporting secret schools for girls in Afghanistan and supporting the visa application for a man to bring his family to Australia.
Each Circle has been supporting the people it has come to know, responding to their needs and creating friendships. Ways in which Circles provide support are diverse:
- Some Circles continue to provide either full or partial living costs for people on Bridging Visas with little or no income.
- Some circles support asylum seekers who have been in Australia for over 12 years without protection
- Some Circles continue to support the families or individuals they have come to know with all the settlement issues that arise.
- Some Circles support individuals or families in bringing family members to safety in Australia,having finally gained the Resolution of Status Visas after at least 11 years of insecurity on Temporary Protection Visas. There are the costs of the applications, which can be difficult for people injured or sick, and then the months of uncertainty about whether they will be able to come.
- Some Circles are supporting people who are arriving on Humanitarian Visas and Community Support Program Visas to navigate the maze of Australian life.
After the combined advocacy by COFA and the Red Cross to the South Australian Government, we have heard that asylum seekers on Bridging Visas will be eligible for State Government concessions for energy, water, cost of living and transport from 1 January 2025. The State Government consulted with us on how to roll this out.
About 650 people in South Australia have been refused protection in the flawed “Fast Track” system despite the danger of returning to their home country. We support and advocate for some of these people.
Sadly, new people are now on Nauru, living with insecurity and isolation after seeking safety by boat. Hopefully, they will go to New Zealand very soon. About 50 people remain in Papua New Guinea, suffering long-term illness from so many years of being caught in the cruelty of the offshore system. We need the political will to resolve this situation for people.
The COFA committee has written its new Child Safe Policy to comply with legislation, and we have appointed a new Child Safety Support Person to oversee this work.
The COFA committee has changed how we meet so that we can include younger people on our committee. All meetings are in the evening, mostly on Zoom to reduce night driving, and twice a year, face-to-face meetings are held during daylight savings time. We encourage new members to join the committee to learn about the whole organisation and share the workload. We welcome our new committee members who have already joined us.
Thank you to all our circle members, our supporters and our donors. Together we do amazing work. COFA will continue with our strength and collaborative thinking, and the generosity of donors.
Monica O’Wheel, August 2024
Download the full report via link below to see more details of the work of our Circles over the past year:
2023-2024 COFA Annual Report