AUSIT NEWS / ADVOCACY
‘When women thrive, the whole community thrives’ – these are the wise words of the Honourable Fiona Simpson MP, Speaker of the House of the Queensland Parliament, during her keynote address at the ECCQ* International Women’s Week Breakfast, hosted by the Women’s Ethnic Network (WEN) on Saturday 14 March as part of Queensland Women’s Week – Shaping tomorrow together. AUSIT QLD is a member of ECCQ, and its PD Coordinator Nancy Guevara, along with our national Advocacy Committee Chair Patricia Argüello de Avila, had the privilege of hearing Fiona’s speech in person. Patti reports on the inspiring event here.
Heaven knows I like to sleep in on Saturdays, but … I’d do it again!
More than 300 attendees enjoyed the delicious breakfast provided by the Greek Club, but even more importantly than food for the body, we were all privileged to enjoy food for the soul that morning.
Heaven knows I like to sleep in on Saturdays, but getting up earlyish to have a shower and get going proved a great idea last Saturday. I’d do it again!
The learning opportunities at this amazing gathering of around 300 women, many of them migrants and humanitarian entrants like me, were – as my grandchildren would say – awesome!
And the networking opportunity was amazing. I met many exceptional women who will no doubt make an impression on both my working and my personal life into the future; I also encountered past acquaintances with whom – having shared the inspiring talks and presentations – friendships have been renewed and reinvigorated, as we found so much common ground.
The statements I quickly scrawled in my notebook during the event included:
Shaping tomorrow together
Women don’t realise we’ve got the goods
Women sometimes doubt ourselves
We all need to unlock our leadership potential to inspire and elevate
Nobody is too small to make a difference
As a professional interpreter and translator with decades of experience and a passionate advocate for professionalism in T&I services, the advice to ‘Be unapologetically fearless in your essence’ resonated with me, and as an educator, so did ‘Keep listening to achieve full understanding of where “the other” is’, and also ‘State your message with confidence, compassion and clarity’ – the battle cry of the host of the event, speaker extraordinaire Shiv Martin.
I’m still buzzing from the optimism and verve that surrounded me in that big room, and I congratulate AUSIT QLD on being a member of ECCQ, where wonderful things are happening for migrant and refugee communities, our wonderful stakeholders.
I’d like to encourage more AUSIT members to take part in this type of community gathering, where we can spread the good word about our profession.
You can read Patti’s bio in our last (December 2025) issue, available here (page 13).
