Today we celebrate the Devil’s Advocate achieving a milestone; this being the 300th edition! The the Devil’s Advocate (DA for short) is FCVic’s flagship publication and has been shared with our sector since August 1996, when it was initially faxed out! The DA focuses on sector news, updates and events.
A lot has happened through May. The big news, of course, being a change of government. As the new party settles in to parliament, it was very pleasing to see the Prime Minister make a significant step in including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait flags alongside the Australian flag prior to him holding his first press conference as our country’s new leader. This historic change emphasised Labor’s policy commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. A timely step as we commence this year’s National Reconciliation Week for 2022. This year the theme is “Be Brave. Make Change.” A challenge to all Australians to be brave and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation so change can be made for the benefit of all Australians. We can only hope our new Government is very brave!
FCVic also celebrated IDAHOBIT on May 17 – International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersex discrimination and Transphobia. This day is to grow visibility, educate on inclusion and change the world for LGBTIQA+ communities. During May FCVic had a focus on LGBTIQA+ inclusion via training, supporting and celebrating IDAHOBIT, and sharing resources in our member’s weekly newsletter – The Gazette – aiming to be helpful in advancing our understanding of how to be LGBTIQA+ inclusive.
May of course was also the month of the FCA national conference – “A Sea of Possibilities” was this year’s theme. The conference held in balmy Cairns had attendance of around 700 people, mostly in person but with many taking advantage of the live streaming. There were many inspiring sessions and lots of learnings to be had.
We would like to acknowledge the amazing efforts of one Victorian financial counsellor, Rachna Madaan-Bowman, who participated in this year’s SPOTTalks to a packed audience on the Thursday morning. The 7-minute talks on the conference stage saw brave speakers who had spent many weeks being mentored professionally speak of stories or matters they are deeply passionate about and asking the audience to help them seek change. It was a privilege to watch and listen to Rachna speak so passionately and start conversations about shifting system designs to include multicultural and non-English speaking CALD people. Well done, Rachna!
You can read an article Rachna wrote about removing barriers in banking for people from multicultural communities for the DA last year here, or listen to Rachna and Mark Pearce at Consumer Action Law Centre discuss the importance of in-language resources here.