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Unknown
Hi, my name is Dilnaz Billimoria. I'm a proud woman of colour and faith living in this beautiful country and Melbourne for 20 years. I have been involved in the Engaging Communities in Democracy Project, which is really great.

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Unknown
A partnership between the Parliament of Victoria, Eastern Community Legal Centre, faith and community leaders in the Eastern Metro Region. So over my 20 years in Melbourne, I have interacted with our local members of Parliament a number of times.

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Unknown
Often I accompany vulnerable members of our community for their visa issues or for the visa issues of their family members. And I found the local members of Parliament to be extremely helpful with the advice that they are able to give,

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the website links that they are able to provide, the federal, state and local levels of government that are involved. So that's one issue. I have also often contacted Members of Parliament for faith and cultural issues. There are different faith groups who may be wanting to build a faith centre or they are wanting to expand or enhance their

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faith centres as the community grows. You know how it is, and we have often then approached our local members of Parliament, who again have been very helpful in liaising with local government and also providing advice and suggestions on how to go about it.

00:01:34:17 - 00:01:49:22
Unknown
So I do a lot of work in the prevention of elder abuse and family violence, and I saw a wonderful submission that was being asked about holistic ageing and debunking the myths of ageism and also prevention of elder abuse.

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Unknown
And I thought to myself, do I have the time and resources to do a complete submission on my own? And then on the Parliament, Victorian Parliament website, I actually saw a link to Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, ECCV, who were helping the community to put in a combined submission.

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Unknown
So I joined in too. Sat through some information sessions and was able to put my submission through with them. So my message to the community is that if you can't manage it on your own, don't turn your back.

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Unknown
It is really important for us to be engaged in the process with our rights come our responsibilities, so be an engaged member of the community. Put your hand up. Seek help. There is support available.

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Unknown


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Unknown