AFUO Co-Chairs Stefan Romaniw OAM and Kateryna Argyrou, and Chrestyna Kmetj, Executive Committee member, visited Canberra on Monday 31 July to thank the Australian Government for their support for Ukraine and to discuss the community’s latest initiatives to help Ukraine.
Matters discussed included continued defence funding for Ukraine, the AFUO’s #Utes4Ukraine initiative, visa issues for displaced Ukrainians, a proposed Government motion condemning the 1932-33 Holomodor as genocide, declarations regarding Russia being a terrorist state and Government enforcement of the Magnitsky Act.
Visits were held with Senator Penny Wong, the Foreign Affairs Minister; Senator Richard Marles, the Defence Minister; the Hon Andrew Giles MP, Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister; Senator James Paterson (Shadow Minister for Home Affairs); senior advisers in the Office of the Opposition Leader; and senior staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
In the evening, the Australia-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group hosted a screening of the documentary Masha and Valentyna in Parliament House. The documentary, available on SBS On Demand, tells the story of 17-year-old Masha and 41-year-old Valentyna, two of the millions of women and children who fled to Poland after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At the screening, the AFUO broadcast a short video message from the AFUO (produced by Ukrainian community members Daria Hudemchuk and Anton Lozbin) which thanked the Australian Government and people on behalf of the Australian-Ukrainian community for the latest assistance package to help Ukraine. The video included interviews with Ukrainian defenders about the value of the Bushmasters and messages of thanks from local Ukrainian displaced women and children.
