Knox City Council Mayor Meeting/Consultation with the Nepalese Community

Knox Council Mayor Cr Susan Laukens invited the Nepalese community through coordination with Nirmala Nyaupane, an executive member and Eastern suburb unit coordinator of Didi Bahini Samaj Victoria (DBSV). The meeting was held at the councillor’s lounge at Civic Center building at Knox with the following members of the Nepalese community present in the meeting:

• Nirmala Nyaupane- Executive member and Eastern Suburb Coordinator of DBSV
• Dr Raju Adhikari- Founding president of NAV
• Lina Gubhaju- Executive member of DBSV
• Susan Adhikari- Community member
• Tamoj Bajracharya- community member and Eastern warrior- soccer club
• Diwakar Basnet- Community member and Eastern suburb Cycling Club

At the meeting, Nirmala briefly introduced DBSV and how Knox City Council’s grant support is supporting the current activities and programs among the Nepalese community around the Knox catchment area. Dr Raju Adhikari provided comprehensive insights about Nepalese community migration rates in and around the Knox catchment area. Similarly, Lina Gubhaju briefly explained various community activities including language classes for Nepalese children which are occurring every Sunday with an objective to promote language learning among new generations. Susan Adhikari communicated about being interested in being a volunteer in the community. Tamoj Bajracharya highlighted the importance of having Milpera grounds to keep the children and adults active through sports such as soccer. Furthermore, Diwakar Basnet highlighted the importance of sports and events such as cycling each week to keep the community connected.

The Knox Council Mayor expressed her high interest to work collaboratively with the Nepalese community to understand and address community needs to make Knox more inclusive and achieve great outcomes for the community members.

During the meeting, Dr Raju Adhikari also took the opportunity and presented a token of thanks on behalf of NAV as Knox Mayor Cr. Susan was unable to attend the NAV Gala Dinner due to her prior commitments.