VLCC Launch

Victorian Lebanese Community Council Launch

On 17 October 2007 Dr Michael Kheirallah, along with 17 other council members, will chair the launch of the Victorian Lebanese Community Council. The council has been created as a result of the negative attention that has recently been cast on the Australian-Lebanese community. Dr Kheirallah, who is also a community educator with the Victorian Department of Justice, believes that attitudes towards middle eastern denominations have shifted over the past ten years. "Since 911 the whole world has changed. Before that there were some stereotypes, but now it is very different," he says. The Youth Officer for the Council, Amal Ayoub, believes that this organisation is something the Australian-Lebanese community has long been needing. "It's something that's been on our minds for a very long time considering so much negative attention has been paid to people of Lebanese background," Ayoub says. The council, which consists of members from a wide variety of professional and skilled backgrounds, hopes to be instrumental in changing the public's perception of the Australian-Lebanese community.

Tackling the media

They believe the first thing that is needed, is to alter media representation of people of a Lebanese background. "All the negativity stems from the media and that's why we are going to reach out to the media to promote a positive image," Kheirallah says. Ayoub believes that the much media attention is biased against this specific group of people. "The only time that you see people of Lebanese background is when they have done something wrong. We feel that there are a lot of people from our background that are very successful and contribute a lot to Australia and are very passionate about Australia," she says. Providing positive role models It is also felt that the younger Australian-Lebanese would benefit from a strong positive role model. "We do have an ambition about targeting young people because we believe they are the future," Ayoub says.

She believes that some members of this community feel they have limited options. "There is this new group of young people that are dropping out in schools and are highly represented in juvenile detention. We want to target that and say there are other things you can do," she says. The council plans to address this by providing community education in schools, by running seminars and by hosting workshops. They feel it is necessary to expose the younger generation to all of the options available to them. Ayoub suggests that the best approach to take is to have members of the Australian-Lebanese community who have achieved success in their own lives, help to guide the younger generation. "We want young people like them who are in a variety of industries to say 'I am from a Lebanese background, I worked hard to get where I am and I am successful'," she says. The council feels this approach will not only provide inspiration to the Australian- Lebanese but will also help to improve their public image in the wider Victorian society. "We want to get involved in mainstream society to change the attitude of the general population," says Kheirallah.

Government involvement

The council also believes that government involvement is necessary to help improve the Lebanese public image. "We are going to work with different government departments and develop some policies to address some of the issues in the community," Kheirallah says. "We are aiming to help to develop programs and policies for the Australian-Lebanese Youths who are currently studying and also those who are in juvenile detention," says Kheirallah. The council hopes that by reaching out to the government to the media and to the Australian-Lebanese people themselves, that they will be able to enhance awareness and promote a more positive image within the wider Victorian community.