A PASSION for creating community is what Maureen Doonan said drives her to advocate and provide practical support for refugees and asylum seekers.<\/p>\n
She has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the King’s Birthday Honours in recognition of her services to Ballarat, which includes providing refugees and asylum seekers with accommodation in her home, and teaching them how to drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just see it as a means of promoting the work that I do because our government doesn\u2019t seem to see refugees as humans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had three boys and I worried about them on the farm and how they\u2019d go if they wanted to go away and study. Now I discover there are mothers who let their boys go across to countries they didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of the boys that boarded with me came on boats that sank. I think to myself how I\u2019d feel if that was my boy.”<\/p>\n
Ms Doonan is a member of Rural Australians for Refugees, Ballarat Refugee and Asylum Seeker Network, is a a founding member of Ballarat Afghan Action Group, and has protested for more than a decade for refugee acceptance.<\/p>\n
She was named Ballarat\u2019s Senior of the Year in 2023 and was inducted onto Zonta\u2019s Great Women Honour Roll this year.<\/p>\n
Every two weeks she rallies outside Member for Ballarat Catherine King\u2019s office calling for changes to Australia\u2019s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that gets to me more than anything is that they believed we were a welcoming country,\u201d Ms Doonan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen they get here and find it\u2019s so very different.<\/p>\n
\u201cSociety is different now to what it used to be\u2026 In some places you can live there and not even know who your neighbours are.<\/p>\n
\u201cSociety would be so much better if we focused on helping one another\u2026 it\u2019s giving other people hope.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A PASSION for creating community is what Maureen Doonan said drives her to advocate and provide practical support for refugees and asylum seekers. She has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the King’s Birthday Honours in recognition of her services to Ballarat, which includes providing refugees and asylum seekers with accommodation […]<\/p>\n