In a strong week of advocacy, the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) held a series of meetings with ministers, shadow ministers, crossbenchers, and many others in the Federal Parliament on the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Four key asks were at the heart of these conversations:
- a whole of government plan to coordinate aid and support for Ukraine
- meaningful and sustained military support
- reopening the Australian Embassy in Kyiv
- visa pathways to provide certainty to displaced Ukrainians
The AFUO will continue to engage with the Government and the media not only to thank Australia for its support, but to draw attention to what more can be done. It is squarely in Australia’s national interest to help Ukraine to hold the line, and defend democracy and the global rules based order.
The AFUO team included Co chairs Stefan Romaniw OAM and Kateryna Argyrou, and Executive Committee member and Australia-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group Liaison Chrestyna Kmetj.
Meetings were held with Pat Conroy MP (Minister for Defence Industry), Andrew Giles MP (Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs), Matt Thistlethwaite MP (Assistant Defence Minister), Bill Shorten MP (Minister for the NDIS), Senator Simon Birmingham (Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister), Senator Linda Reynolds (co-chair Australia-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group AUPFG), Senator David Fawcett (Senator for South Australia), Julian Hill MP, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (Senator for NT), Senator David Shoebridge (Senator for NSW), Senator James Paterson (Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security), Michael McCormack MP, Senator Maria Kovacic (Senator for NSW), Senator Deborah O’Neill (Senator for NSW), Josh Burns MP, Allegra Spender MP, Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah MP, Zoe Daniel MP, Zoe McKenzie MP, Maria Vamvakionou MP, and Molly Hughes (Defence adviser to Peter Dutton, Opposition Leader).
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