Compassion and community for refugees

BUILDING community is important to Ballarat’s Maureen Doonan.

She is an advocate for refugees and people seeking asylum, fundraising and campaigning to provide practical support.

Ms Doonan began to provide accommodation in her home for refugees and people seeking asylum in 2012.

She had been offering university students board, but when one student pulled out at the last minute, Ms Doonan saw the opportunity to house a refugee who had just received his visa.

“I said to him, if you want to come around to my place and have a look you could perhaps stay there because my border is not coming,” she said.

“From there, one left and another one came in.”

Ms Doonan, who is originally from near Manchester in England, migrated to Australia with her family when she was 12.

She is a member of Rural Australians for Refugees, Ballarat Refugee and Asylum Seeker Network, a founding member of Ballarat Afghan Action Group, and has protested for more than a decade for refugee acceptance.

Ms Doonan teaches refugees and asylum seekers how to drive, which she said is a crucial skill in Ballarat.

“I teach the young women to drive because they are not allowed to drive or not able to drive in their own country, and then they want to go to work,” she said.

“In Ballarat public transport doesn’t quite fit.”

Ms Doonan urged the community to show compassion to refugees and asylum seekers and consider barriers they may be facing.

“Those who’ve been here 10, 12 years and still don’t have a permanent visa, that’s just not on,” she said.

“These people want to work… people say they’re taking our jobs, but they’re jobs that we won’t do.

“They came here believing that we were a welcoming country that we used to be and got such a shock when they realised the treatment they were being put through.”

For her service to the community, Ms Doonan will be inducted into Ballarat’s Great Women Honour Roll by members of the Zonta Club of Ballarat.