Highlights :
•People do raise visa issues surrounding their family members.
•Banks has a robust local economy with a low unemployment rate of 3.7%.
•We are dealing with mental health issues in an advanced way than before.
•Housing is primarily about matching supply and demand, which is getting better.
•Feel free to raise your voice!
Federal Assistant Minister for Finance, David Coleman has praised the economic contribution made by members of the Nepali community in south-western Sydney.
Speaking to SBS Nepali, Mr Coleman also highlighted some of the issues that have been raised with him by the members of the community, including more straightforward visa processing for Nepali visitors to Australia.
Source: Facebook (@davidcoleman4banks).
Apart from visa and immigration, the 44-year-old is also urging members of the Nepali community to speak to him directly about housing, mental health and any other government-related issues they may be facing in Australia.
Mr Coleman is the Liberal member for the New South Wales electorate of Banks in the Federal House of Representative. Banks includes the suburb of Hurstville, which according to the 2016 Census, has the second highest number of Nepali speaking residents in Australia. The highest number of Nepali speakers live in the western Sydney suburb of Auburn.
Almost two thousand five hundred Nepali speakers live in Hurstville alone and the suburb is also home to several Nepali restaurants and grocery stores.
Other suburbs that’ll add few more thousands to the number of Nepali speakers living within Banks also includes Allawah, Penshurst, Peakhurst, Mortdale and some parts of Beverly Hills.
Nepal is now the third largest source country for international students coming to Australia, with government records showing more than 25,000 Nepali students arrived just in the first three months of 2018. Most are still choosing to live in New South Wales and Victoria.
This increase in the number of Nepali speakers has also seen a rise in the number of problems faced by them. However, not many are not aware of who their elected representatives are in the federal parliament and how the MPs can help them with their problems surrounding housing, immigration, health and employment.
To contact Assistant Minister Coleman, visit https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=241067
