Mr George Kabengele, a key member of the African Community and President of the Australia-DRC Business Council, was a guest speaker at this meeting. Mr Kabengele is a member of the newly appointed African Ministerial Working Group (AMWG), which identifies and addresses key issues affecting members of the Victorian African community, with employment as the major focus. Mr Kabengele is also the chairperson of the African Friends of Labor and member of the Multicultural friends of Labor. Within these platforms, he works with various Labor MPs to provide a platform for people from multicultural backgrounds to be involved and take part in the political debate here in Victoria.
We heard about George’s personal background as a refugee from the DRC and his resulting appreciation of the difficulties faced by Africans settling in Australia as well as his role as Managing Director at Unhu Consulting Group based in Sunshine North. Unhu specialises in Africa related business and recruitment services.
The meeting discussed the desirability of creating better understanding and greater participation by people from Africa in Australia’s democratic processes as well as the possibility of forming Australian/Africa friendship associations.