Cultural Events

Gosford City a Refugee Welcome Zone

Gosford City Council is delighted to announce that it has joined 72 Council's across Australia to become a "Refugee Welcome Zone". The theme for Refugee Week 2009 in Australia is "Freedom from Fear". The quest for freedom from fear is at the heart of a refugee's flight from danger. Many refugees come to Australia fleeing political, religious or social unrest and they have left everything behind in a bid to keep themselves and their families safe. They have lived through many traumatic experiences, some have experienced torture and all have had to sacrifice a lot to leave and enter the insecurity of being a “refugee”, living in camps while they seek a country to accept them. There are currently 11.4 million people around the world seeking refugee status and a further 26 million internally displaced persons – Australia will offer refugee status to 6, 000 refugees in 2009 – 2010 and a further 7, 750 places to people on Special Humanitarian Visas and Protection Visas. Through its commitment to establishing a “Refugee Welcome Zone” Gosford Council is saying to our refugees “You are welcome here”. We would like to work with the many groups here on the Central Coast to support refugees to find the home they are seeking, and wish to recognize the contributions that they make to our community.