AMES will feature prominently at the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) 2013 conference, to be held on the 7th and 8th of November in Queensland. AMES CEO Cath Scarth is presenting a keynote address entitled ‘Barriers to employment’ examining…

For AMES client Amir Kashani, the chance to go to the local gym and swim or work out is a godsend. Amir is one of the first clients to take advantage of AMES Meaningful Engagement initiative. His gym membership is a…

AMES student Pouria Ebram has secured a job as a direct result of his participation in AMES initiatives for skilled migrants. He attended both the AMES Skilled Professional Migrants Program (SPMP) and later, the Working the Australian Way two-day seminar. Pouria, a technical design…

A series of ‘Mother and Baby Group’ sessions at Flagstaff aimed at helping newly arrived asylum seeker client families with babies under a year old are planned to begin on November 22. The sessions will cover breastfeeding, women’s and children’s…

AMES is holding a course for young men from CALD backgrounds seeking to get jobs as Protective Services Officers (PSOs). The eight-week course will prepare the men for the VET assessment test they need to pass to be able to…

Melbourne’s Multicultural Hub will host a writing workshop for young people from refugee backgrounds later this month. The ‘Writing Workshop for Young People from Refugee Backgrounds’ is an interactive workshop that will help up to 25 young people develop their creative written…

Melbourne’s Immigration Museum is host to a stunning new exhibition which showcases fashion created by or for Australian Muslim women. Titled ‘Faith, Fashion, Fusion, Muslim women’s style in Australia’, the exhibition explores an emerging fashion market and the work of a…

AMES has congratulated new federal Coalition cabinet members on their appointments and is looking forward to working with the Abbott government. AMES Chief Executive Cath Scarth said the appointment of the new cabinet would lead to a clear direction for the…

Asylum seeker families are struggling to make ends meet because of the high cost of private rental housing in Melbourne’s suburbs. An asylum seeker family on a bridging visa receives a maximum of just $770 a fortnight in benefits payments.…

More than 332,000 new Australians will vote for the first time in next week’s the federal election. These people, identified by the Australian Electoral Commission as overseas-born new enrolees since 2010, have come to Australia as migrants, refugees or asylum seekers. For…

Refugees and asylum seekers are not ‘swamping’ Australia, according to the latest State of Australian Cities report. The report, released by the federal government this week showed refugees and asylum seekers are a tiny fraction of the 30 million international border…

The skills of professionally qualified migrants to Australia are going unused because they need help in overcoming significant barriers to getting a job, according to new research. An evaluation study of the ‘Working the Australian Way’ program – which aims…