So, this world is HEAVY and hard. Joy as resistance feels as important as ever. Right now, for me, it's absolutely crucial. So, perhaps selfishly, I'm seeking your stories of joy and celebration! We're specifically championing some of these stories that celebrate acts of welcoming, belonging and inclusion on Welcoming Australia through #WelcomingWednesdays - but even if they don't meet that criteria, please tell me your moments of joy and celebration. Let our shared celebrations be our resistance. And our shared joy be fuel for our souls <3

My gosh, my inbox is a beautiful place after sharing this request!

Please keep them coming, friends! If you’re open to it, share them publicly, too.

We all need a bit of joy - balm for weary hearts and fuel for the fight 🩷

#JoyAsResistance
#WelcomingWednesdays

This #WelcomingWednesday, we’re celebrating extremely good news! Recently, A/Min Citizenship & Multicultural Affairs, Hon Julian Hill MP announced the Community Refugee Integration & Settlement Pilot (CRISP) will become a ‘permanent & valued feature within Australia’s overall humanitarian program’.

We are beyond delighted to announce our International Perspectives keynote for the 2025 Welcoming Australia Symposium, the incomparable Pádraig Ó Tuama!

We KNOW you want to be part of this important conversation - early bird pricing now available: symposium.welcoming.org.au
#WhereEverybodyCanBelong

Always was. Always will be. 🖤💛❤️
🔥 ☀️ 🥵

Sign the Petition Australia Day - Jan 26 - Not a date to celebrate

Add your name @ www.change.org/p/australia-day-jan-26-not-a-date-to-celebrate

A welcoming & inclusive future for Australia is only possible when we tell the truth about our history, recognising its impact on the present & commit to making change for the future.

#StrongerTogether #Jan26

Proud to join the #NotADateToCelebrate campaign - you can add your name to the call, too!
Jan 26 is not a date to celebrate; instead marks the beginning of land dispossession, violence & trauma for First Nations people - we’ll mark tomorrow #SurvivalDay as a Day of Mourning, not of celebration.

Apply this with your neighbours, make small talk with the cashier when you check out, smile at someone at the bus stop - micro connections builds up the habit of thinking collectively, and it’s that muscle we need to flex as the far-right try to divide us

It actually IS our responsibility to educate people about our lives, to teach them how to respect us. When they google ‘transgender’ their algorithm might serve them T*RF filth, when you tell them to educate themselves on race, a fascist is sitting down and talking them through the K*K manifesto

As a visibly queer PoC, as frustrating as it is, I accept that I’m representing my community (yes I hate it too) those small connections? That’s what people think about when they hear propaganda. The anti-trans stuff doesn’t cut through when they are friends with their trans neighbour

During the marriage equality campaign we tested hundreds of messages. What cut through, was ‘fairness and equality’ it was literally, that straight people knew queer people. Most hets didn’t want to harm their queer friends, colleagues, family, and neighbours. That’s why we won. Relationships.

When we label people as ‘-ist’ when they genuinely didn’t understand and get given the opportunity to learn and grow - that’s when we create shame, chaos and division. It shuts down connection. Physically our bodies are flooded with stress hormones. We need to instead approach with curiosity first

Does this person understand the impact of their words? Why are they doing this really? Usually you’ll find that they’re scared, they’ve not had a fair go in life, they’re lonely, and / or have low self esteem. If we don’t talk to them, the fascists will. MAGA aren’t emotionally regulated people.

Of course, not everyone will want to grow and change. Some people really are just awful puerile hate filled meat sacks. Don’t waste your time with them. Ignore them, cut their oxygen supply, because attention only grows their power. Focus on the ones who do want to do better

There is so much to do. Let’s spend less time tearing each other down and be laser focused on the oligarchs who are stealing from us every day. Don’t let them divide us.

It’s really as simple as this: it’s very difficult to hate a group when you have genuine relationships with people in that group. Or, when you rely on people from that group to help you out when you’re vulnerable (neighbours, colleagues). If it didn’t work, fascists wouldn’t dehumanise and divide us

Photo of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.

This is the face of courage and compassion. Thank you Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde for speaking truth to power on behalf of the marginalized.

Do the nitty gritty un-glamorous work that doesn’t make headlines but makes ripples. Cultivate moments of joy and wonder to sustain the fight. Dance, eat, scream, love. Take care of one another and of you. Feed each other, lean on one another, rest and restore, come back to community.

The work of advancing welcoming communities just became simultaneously more important, and harder than ever.
And we’ll keep bloody doing it.

We’re better together. Stronger, together.

So, let’s keep showing up.
Mobilise. Organise.

We’ve got this. We’ve got each other.

Refugee Council USA Condemns President Trump’s Overnight Implementation of Refugee Ban.

See our full statement on our website: bit.ly/4h3jH5b

What a challenging few days!
This has affirmed that the work to build welcoming communities is more important than ever - even when leaders act to make it harder than ever to achieve!

So, we want to make it overwhelmingly clear - everyone deserves to belong in the community they call home.