Our Work at Allies in Colour
Allies in Colour as an independent, national, peak body, is a novel idea in the Australian multicultural space. We are here to challenge old-school practices and ideas that no longer serve our communities. Therefore, true to our core, we present entrepreneurial and data-centric pathways to multicultural advocacy efforts.
This is the reason why we have created the “Centre of Multicultural Political Engagement, Literacy and Leadership (COMPELL) and “CARM Board List” as an end-to-end solution to target multicultural issues.
Our various initiatives will help us to:
- Measure and manage multicultural political representation
- Measure and manage culturally diverse board representation
- Collect nuanced data on the selection/hiring processes that may be hindering representation
- By way of our networking events, foster intercultural bonds and encourage political/civic participation to strengthen our democracy
- Be a central point for our people to come to us with issues that perhaps other agencies can’t or are ineffective in solving
- Provide input into Federal and State government agencies, augmented by novel data which only Allies in Colour possesses. Therefore, making us an alternative and yet critical institution that government agencies can rely on to improve their overall strategic decisions
Founder, Managing Director – Tharini Rouwette
Over the last decade, prior to forming her organisation, Tharini volunteered her time and energy campaigning on various marginalised community causes. Impacting a small group of people was no longer satisfactory for her and hence she wanted to do something more effective that would positively affect the lives of larger groups of marginalised communities in Australia. This is why she formed Allies in Colour.
Having arrived here as an international student decades ago and later working as a professional under a labour hire agreement, Tharini has witnessed first hand all the ways in which our vulnerable communities are being exploited and discriminated against and how systemic barriers and negligence has led to culturally and racially marginalised (CARM) communities being unable to progress in Australia.
Tharini is a daughter of migrant South Asian parents who sought a better life by travelling on a long treacherous boat journey, working as a coolie (low-wage porters) and later becoming entrepreneurs. She understands that her life of privilege was off the back of back-breaking migrant labour and hence, she will always prioritise the needs our most vulnerable communities. Tharini is always identifying ways to improve outcomes for multicultural Australia through brave and innovative ideas.