Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Techfugees is a global movement brought to Australia through a joint effort of many exceptionally energetic and proud local start-up community advocates, including Annie Parker, Nicole Williamson and Anne-Marie Elias. Techfugees brings people together to develop creative tech solutions to help refugees settle and build productive lives in their new community.

In early November, they held a hackathon at the Information and Cultural Exchange, in Parramatta, partnering with Settlement Services International, to come up with solutions to problems confronting young refugees. Almost a hundred people attended the event and heard five young refugees—Sarah, Arash, Sayed, Sarah and Dor—tell their stories and experiences of coming to Australia. As discussions rolled out, many themes emerged around language, employment, education and inclusion, and at the end of the event eight solutions were pitched up for support.

Many of the solutions developed at previous events are now operating as tech start-ups in their own right. Take the example of Nirary Dacho and Anna Robson, who met at the 2015 hackathon. They joined together to solve the problems of refugees struggling to get their first local work experience in their new country despite often being skilled workers. Their solution, Refugee Talent, is now a digital platform connecting skilled refugees with companies offering short- and long-term job opportunities. Some of their clients include the Australian tax office, Deloitte and the ABC.

Techfugees will be held next in April 2017 in Melbourne, and I encourage people to get involved in this fantastic initiative.