CCCA 2nd National Conference Program
Moving On! Building the Chinese Australian Voice
Day 1 Saturday 18 August 2012
8.00am – 9.00 am Registration of delegates
9.00am – 9.30am Welcome and official opening
- Dr Stanley Chiang, President of the host CCCA Victoria Chapter
- Mr Hong Lim MP, Chair CCCA(Vic)Advisory Committee
- Dr Anthony Pun OAM, CCCA National President
- Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Sport, and Minister assisting for Industry and Innovation, representing the Prime Minister Julia Gillard, will officially open the conference.
9.30 am – 9.45am Working the tailings
Moving on from Conference One to Conference Two – from where Conference One, Finding the Chinese Australian Voice, left off in April 2011, to the program of this second national conference, Moving On! Building the Chinese Australian Voice.
Daphne Lowe Kelley, Conference convenor
9.45am – 11.00am Session 1 Keynote Addresses
Thinking big:Lighting up the past to light up the present.
On understanding and seeing the big picture.
Australia:Made in Asia
The history of Australia has traditionally been written as if its geographical position in the southwest Pacific and at the edge of Asia were largely irrelevant to its historical experience and formation as a nation. The priority given in the new national curriculum to the history of Australia’s engagement with Asia, promises that this perspective on our history will at least be given proper emphasis.
Professor Marilyn Lake, Charles La Trobe Professor in History, La Trobe University, Melbourne
Responding to the Chinese voice in Australia
White Australia attracted different imaginings, and they remain in our consciousness, or our collective subconscious, to this day. In particular they still influence the way Australians see Chinese, the way Chinese see Australians, and the way Chinese Australians see each other and other Australians. From more than two hundred years Dr Broinowski selects two periods when the Chinese in Australia found a voice, collectively or individually, and considers what they had to say, how that has changed or remained the same, and concludes with some speculation about the role of Chinese, and Chinese Australians, in the ‘Asian Century’.
Dr Alison Broinowski, Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra; Honorary Research Associate, University of Wollongong
11.00am - 11.15am Morning Tea
11.15am – 12. 30pm Session 2
Images and perceptions Who are the Chinese Australians? How do others see them and how do they see themselves?
Chair:Annette Shun Wah, author, actor, broadcaster, President Performance 4A.
1. Chinese, what colour and image now? The Chinese have settled and contributed to the different countries they live in but have not had a comfortable acclimatisation in their resident environment. This paper draws on examples from Australia and overseas to illustrate that ‘colour’ and ‘image’ still impact on the Chinese whether in Australia or overseas.
Dr Christine Lee, Assistant Lecturer, Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne
2. Poll Tax Apology:A Demand
Dr Ouyang Yu, poet, critic, translator, editor and novelist, winner of NSW Premier’s Literary Award 2011
3. Chinese? Australians? Chinese Australians?
The agonising identity crisis faced by many Chinese Australians.
Dr Stanley Chiang, CCCA(Victoria)President
4. The Chinese Face in Australia
Professor Chan will speak on and launch a new book by him and Lucille Lok-Sun Ngan, The Chinese Face in Australia:Multigenerational Ethnicity among Australian-born Chinese(NY:Springer 2012), showing how and why “Chineseness” in terms of physicality still remains central to the identity of Australian-born Chinese whether they willingly choose to or it is imposed upon them by others – inside and outside the Chinese community.
Professor Chan Kwok-bun, First Chair Professor of Sociology, Hong Kong Baptist University; Adjunct Professor of Sociology University of Macao, Founder and Chairman, Chan Institute of Social Studies Hong Kong.
12.30-1.00pm Lessons from Asian America
Guest Speaker Professor Nakanishi has been a regular to our Australian shores since 1993. He attended the first CCCA conference last year and he will share with us a few observations about Asian American politics.
Don T. Nakanishi, Ph.D. Professor and Director Emeritus, UCLA Asian American Studies Center, USA.
1.00pm – 2.00pm Lunch (provided)
Books for sale: Please note that CCCA takes no responsibility for the purchase or sale of any of these books and that the views expressed in any book sold or displayed at this conference represent those of the author and not necessarily those of the Conference Organising Committee or CCCA.
2.00pm – 3. 30pm Session 3
Chinese faces in the Australian public arena - personal stories and speaking on behalf of Chinese Australians
Chair: Annette Shun Wah, author, actor, broadcaster, President Performance 4A
1. Dr John Yu AC, is a paediatrician and was formerly Chief Executive of the Children’s Hospital at Camperdown and then at Westmead. He was Chancellor of the University of New South Wales from 2000 to 2005. Dr Yu is the Chair of the Centre for Asian Art and Archaeology at Sydney University, VisAsia in the Art Gallery of NSW and the George Institute of Global Health. He was named 1996 Australian of the Year.
2. Ms Katrina Fong Lim, Lord Mayor of the City of Darwin elected March 2012. Her late father Alec Fong Lim AM was the first Chinese-Australian Lord Mayor, serving as the Lord Mayor of Darwin from 1984 to 1990.
3. Mr Hong Lim MP, Member for Clayton(elected March 1996), Special Advisor to the Leader of the Opposition on Victoria-Asia Business Relations. Hong Lim came to Australia from Cambodia under the Australian Government Colombo Scholarship in 1970 to study Politics and Administration and graduated with Honours from the University of Tasmania.
4. Ms May Hu, Head of Group, Senior Producer of Mandarin Language, SBS Radio, Melbourne. Chinese women in the mainstream media:My role as a broadcaster and journalist at SBS.
3:30pm – 3.45pm A/Tea
3.45pm – 5.00pm Session 4
The 21st Century:Looking ahead
Chair: Professor Marilyn Lake, Charles La Trobe Professor in History, La Trobe University, Melbourne
1. Beyond “settling down”
Dr Yow looks at the mindset and psyche of migrants, based on a coupled poem from his book “Chinese Dimensions - their roots, mindset and psyche” describing the various scenarios from pre-migration to developing new roots. He suggests “three pillars” crucial to the success of ethnic Chinese in Australia.
Dr Yit Seng Yow, writes extensively on issues pertaining to the ethnic Chinese community. He is from Western Australia and is currently the Senior Vice President of the Chung Wah Association.
2. Retribution, Restitution or Resolution? How should the stories of 19th century Chinese Australians be studied in 21st century Australian secondary schools?
Dr Valerie Lovejoy, Research Officer, Faculty of Education Bendigo, La Trobe University
3. Education for Future Leaders
Ms Guosheng Yang Chen, Head, Language Discipline, School of Global Urban, and
Social Studies, College of Design and Social Content, RMIT University Melbourne. She has over 36 years of leadership, teaching and research experience in tertiary education in China and Australia.
6.00pm Conference Dinner
To make is easier for conference attendees and others, the Conference dinner is at the same venue, but different floor, as the conference:Level 12, Victoria University, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne.
Special Guest:The Hon Dr Craig Emerson MP
Federal Minister for Trade and Competitiveness
Day 2 Sunday 19 August 2012
9.00am – 10.30am Session 5
Keeping fit, nurtured and vibrant:Looking after our mind, body and public spirit
Voicing some current concerns, interests and barriers in developing the Chinese Australian community
Chair: Ms Marion Lau OAM, JP, People of Australia Ambassador, Community Representative Commissioner- Victorian Multicultural Commission
1. The taboo - mental illness
Within the Chinese Australian community there a lack of awareness and acceptance in recognising mental health conditions as an actual illness.
Ms Erin Chew, CCCA(NSW)Vice president
2. Culturally empathetic aged care services
Raising awareness of this need in a fast growing and changing society.
Anna Wang, Chair, Kingston Chinese Senior Citizens Club Inc.
3. Ageing issues faced by Chinese Australians
The East West Interface:successful strategies in care and accommodation. Culturally apt aged care and retirement resorts
Choe Lam Tan, Managing Director, Jeta Gardens
4. No country for old men and women?
An examination of Australia’s claim to humanitarianism and social compassion and the anomalies in Australia’s immigration policy with respect to aged applicants.
Chap B Chow, People of Australia Ambassador 2012
5. Chinese Workers Access to Work Cover and TAC Entitlements
Words of advice from Malcolm Cumming of Maurice Blackburn, Lawyers
10.30am – 10.45am M/T
10.45am – 12:00 noon Session 6
Open Forum - Call for Action
What can individuals, groups and associations do to collaborate and build the Chinese Australian Voice? Conference delegates are invited to propose/suggest, contribute and participate in follow up projects. Discussion can include financial and public support for projects.
Co-Chairs: Dr Anthony Pun, CCCA National President and Dr Stanley Chiang, CCCA Victoria Chapter President
Where to from here? An analysis of what has changed. Has there been any ‘advance’ in our cause? Why are there so few activists amongst us?
Mr Teik Hock Lim JP, retired Centrelink social worker, NSW Community Justice Centre mediator
Dr Chan Cheah from the CCCA Victoria Chapter, calls for action. She says, “The world is changing fast. The question is ‘are we changing too?’ We cannot remain a community of great prosperity with no profile and must resolve to building the Chinese Australian voice to progress beyond where we are at. Dr Cheah presents three ‘building blocks’ on how this can be achieved.”
This will be followed by discussion and an open call for speakers from the floor.
Conference closes after the Forum.
Program as at 13 August 2012(subject to change without notice)
Conference Convenor:Daphne Lowe Kelley,
lowekelley@bigpond.com 0417 655 233
To register and for other information, please go to www.cccavic.org
2:00 pm CCCA National Executive Committee Meeting