Happy story: I Made It: Mount Gambier migrant sewing project teaches independence and business savvy
To safely live with Covid, Australian leaders must actually work cooperatively""
ABC South East SA / By Kate Hill
Wednesday 27 Jul 2016 at 11:24am
Zawadi works away at her sewing while two-year-old son Ebeneza sleeps on her back. (ABC South East SA: Kate Hill )
Jolie Hirwa is keenly watching as the bright print material slips under her fingers, the needle of the sewing machine humming away in front of her.
The refugee from the Republic of Congo is one of six women involved in a new project at Mount Gambier's Migrant Resource Centre called I Made It, aiming to equip migrant women with both sewing skills and business savvy.
Centre manager Anelia Blackie said although various arts and crafts projects had been underway at the centre, the women had been telling her "we want to make clothes".
With the assistance of grant funding from two local organisations, a group of women will come to the centre each week to learn the finer points of sewing from a group of keen volunteers.
"They learn from the very basics of stitching straight, to how to actually use their sewing machine until they can make clothes from a pattern after 12 weeks," Ms Blackie told ABC South East's Selina Green.
Thrown into the mix are field trips to local businesses where the women can learn customer interaction skills and some business know-how, including pricing for profit.
According to Ms Blackie, at the end of the 12-week course, women go home equipped with the ability to produce saleable goods, basic bookkeeping skills and some good conversational banter when it comes to dealing with customers.
"It's a very comprehensive course. You're going to learn a lot of things in it, and obviously also improve your English," she said. Anna Tshela works away at Mount Gambier's Migrant Resource Centre.
ABC South East SA: Kate Hill
Arriving in Mount Gambier last year, Jolie Hirwa's command of English is surprisingly good for someone new to the language. On Tuesday, she helped translate for women who were not quite up to her own level.
Before Jolie arrived in Australia, she was in a refugee camp for a number of years. - "It's a hot place, I was living in the tents with my sister and my brother," she said. - The start of the course is the first time Jolie has picked up a needle and thread in her life.
"It was my first time sewing," she said.
"I've enjoyed making the bag. I think I will sell them or make people their own Christmas bag for a gift."
As for her new home of Mount Gambier, Ms Hirwa said it was "a nice place, but cold".
"But I like the people, they are friendly."
Beyond the course, she has big plans for her future, after initially studying aged care at TAFE.
"Maybe next year I will go to uni and do journalism," she smiled.
"I really like it."
A reminder of home
Aline Balonza checks the thread in the bobbin of her sewing machine. All the machines and materials have been donated. (ABC South East SA: Kate Hill)
According to Ms Blackie, the group was about learning, but also remembering home.
"That is what they naturally do in their villages, they come together and do beading or craftwork or sewing and socialise," she said.
"They catch up on all the gossip and news."
After all, the finer points of sewing and socialising are the same, no matter where in the world you are.
Volunteer Jo Hart is learning just as much as her new "students" from the Congo and Burma. - "I'm learning about new cultures, where they have come and what they have had to endure," said Ms Hart. - Some of the women have learned sewing on old style pedal machines, she explained and electric machines were something else new to get used to.
But others were dab hands, whizzing up the seams on their brightly coloured bags.
When a woman asks for help or one of the old machines decides to get temperamental, Ms Hart and her years of experience step in.
"My mum taught me how to sew when I was a little girl and I've been sewing for my family ever since," she said.
Most of the machines and material have been donated, but Ms Blackie hopes they will eventually be able to get some of the bright batik and print fabrics the women love so much.
As the sound of chatter and sewing machines buzz through the air, Ms Hart said the most important thing is that the women have a good time.
"They're all having fun," she said. "They are all keen as punch to get here and start sewing."
No, that’s not the law: the danger of using pseudolegal arguments against COVID-19 rules
"To safely live with Covid, Australian leaders must actually work cooperatively"
November 3, 2021 3.02pm AEDT
Author Sarah Moulds Senior Lecturer of Law, University of South Australia
Disclosure statement Sarah Moulds receives occasional research funding from the Law Foundation of South Australia. She is the Director of the volunteer-run Rights Resource Network SA and a member of the Law Society of South Australia.
Partners...
Don’t want to take a COVID test, wear a mask or get vaccinated? It’s pretty easy to find advice telling you you’re legally entitled to say no. Unfortunately, this advice is very bad.
The COVID-conspiracy ginger group Reignite Democracy Australia, for example, claims to have “been working with lawyers .. https://www.reignitedemocracyaustralia.com.au/youcansayno/ ” to provide template letters “you can use in situations where your personal rights are being encroached on”.
These letters state it is illegal for an employer or business to ask you to get tested, wear a mask or show proof of vaccination under the Australian Constitution and the Commonwealth Biosecurity Act 2015.
They suggest you cite Section 60, Subsection (2) of the Act and demand your employer provide a “human biosecurity control order”. They even suggest threatening legal action using the following words: - If you take any action to terminate or otherwise restrict my employment, you will be in breach of my employment contract and I reserve my rights to take legal action against you for your unlawful termination. - Similar advice is being spread on Facebook, Telegram and other social media channels. Other grounds cited for an employee or customer refusing to comply with COVID-related rules include the Federal Privacy Act 1988, human rights charters, anti-discrimination acts, the Nuremberg Code, statements by Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman, and even “common law”.
All these arguments are flawed. They are what is known as “pseudolaw” – a mixture of real and fantasy legal ideas. Relying on them is most likely to make a situation worse. They might be enough to overwhelm or confuse a shop assistant, but they won’t stand up in court.
----- Insert: Like the so-called sovereign citizens of the U.S.A. we spent time on years ago: Da Kine 17, I spent many too many hours reading so much of your sovereign citizen meanderings years ago that this time i decided to... https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=162633736 .. and .. June, 2015 - Dallas police HQ shooting: Suspect James Boulware killed during standoff [...]
Bit different, still, overlap - What America Would Look Like If Libertarians Got Their Way What if you cut all benefits? What if all of public life were a giant competition? What libertarianism would look like in real life. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=130046549 -----
The consequences may include losing your job, putting yourself in a position where you may be arrested, spending money on fruitless legal cases, and incurring thousands of dollars in fines.
Mixing fact and fantasy
The term pseudolaw describes any statement that claims to represent a valid law but is actually false or “pretend”. This often involves squishing together real bits of law with false claims.
The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), for example, is a real law that imposes rules on federal government agencies when it comes to handling personal information. But there’s nothing in the act that makes it unlawful to ask a customer to use a contact-tracing form when entering a shop.
Protesters rally against vaccine mandates and other things in Melbourne, Wednesday, September 22 2021. Luis Ascui/AAP
The Commonwealth Biosecurity Act .. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2020C00127 .. does state that a biosecurity control order from an authorised biosecurity officer is needed to compel an individual to do something, such as undertake vaccination. But this does not override or contradict state or territory health directions that mandate vaccinations in specific workplaces or other settings. Those directions are authorised by emergency management laws or public health acts .. https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/Web/Information/CV19/CV19.aspx , which coexist with federal biosecurity legislation.
Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act .. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00125 1992 .. makes it unlawful to disadvantage another person or treat them differently because of a physical disability or even a disease. But it doesn’t mean a business can’t deny you entry if you refuse to show proof of vaccination. Businesses are generally entitled to set whatever conditions .. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/here-s-why-no-jab-no-entry-is-not-discrimination-20210920-p58t2v.html .. of entry they want, provided those conditions are reasonable, don’t discriminate on grounds such as sex or ethnicity, and are imposed to comply with other laws.
A lot like pseudoscience
While pseudolaw has probably been around as long as law, one of its most common expressions in recent decades has been the “sovereign citizen” movement, which essentially argues that individuals do not have to comply with laws they disagree with.
Protesters express opposition to lockdowns, COVID-19 tests, mask mandates and vaccine mandates at the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane, August 21 2021. Dave Hunt/AAP
The attraction of these “personal sovereignty” arguments among those who fear COVID tests, masks and vaccines should hardly be surprising. Indeed, pseudolaw shares much ground with pseudoscience. As US lawyer Colin McRoberts has put it: - They both appeal to people’s natural fondness for self-reliance and secret knowledge. The path from curiosity toward self-destruction probably starts for many with curiosity about strange but compelling ideas – what if some of it were really true, and what’s the harm in believing it when you aren’t sick or in legal trouble? When the cost of error is low, the fact that snake oil doesn’t work is not particularly relevant. But once the believer starts to rely on it in the real world, the spiral has begun. - Pseudolaw also uses similar methods to pseudoscience. McRoberts credits believers with being “typically intelligent and motivated, and capable of constructing complex edifices that sound superficially credible”. But this artifice and the ability to overwhelm those without legal training can easily mislead people into believing the actual arguments have legal merit.
Relying on pseudolaw can give rise to serious legal consequences. Using them in a letter or document can cause harm and distress not only to the recipient but to your own case. If they lead to a genuine legal response or to court proceedings, they could potentially results in fines or penalties for falsifying documents.
Which is presumably why Reignite Democracy Australia includes the following disclaimers with its pseudolegal letters: - Keep in mind that some employees might not take this well and could actually fire you if you choose not to wear a mask/get a test. You would then need to decide how to move forward from there. Please take this into consideration. - In other words, before doing something that could result in you losing your job or incurring a large fine, you should get real legal advice. Consult your union, or a citizens’ legal advisory agency, or a lawyer you can trust.
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