Listening to people’s needs has been at the forefront of the INAS/CISL’s mission from its very inception.
According to local manager Ciro Fiorini, it is precisely thanks to this spirit of dedication to the community that the institution has managed to reach the exceptional milestone of half a century of service to Victoria’s Italians this year.
It is a milestone of great symbolic value, which INAS celebrated with the community last Wednesday at the CO.AS.IT.’s headquarters on Faraday Street. All of the most important representatives, including those of the CISL trade union, such as Secretary General Luigi Sbarra, travelled from Italy to attend the event.
The evening, presented by lawyer Vince Volpe, vice-president of the local INAS branch, was an opportunity to retrace the various stages of the institution’s activities, and to recognise the important work that has been carried out by all of its local officials and operators over the past 50 years.
Representatives of the institutions, including Consul General Hanna Pappalardo, attended the important celebration, as did leading representatives of the community, from former CO.AS.IT. CEO, MP Marco Fedi, to COM.IT.ES President Ubaldo Aglianò, who presented a plaque of recognition to Fiorini for his work within the organisation.
In his speech, Fedi both recalled the history of the charitable institution, a history which he himself has been a part of, and looked to the future, contextualising the important challenges that the CISL trade union and INAS have to face in today’s reality.
“We have a lot to do together,” said Fedi, who stressed that the occasion of the Global Conference of Trade Unions in Melbourne was facilitating focus on the “the still topical issue” of trade union unity.
For the CO.AS.IT. CEO, the conference was a historic opportunity, one not to be missed, that should indeed be exploited, in order to address delicate international contexts, but also issues specific to the Italian community, keeping “the government’s attention high” on civil, social and migrant rights.
Italian migrants in Australia, past and present, are fortunate to have had an institution like INAS at their side. “[At present, INAS is] relaunching its presence in this distant land,” stressed President Luigi Petteni in his speech, because “proximity still has a prospect,” especially in these times when it is necessary to reinterpret needs with modern mobility constraints in mind.
It is a mission that INAS intends to carry out in synergy with other institutions ― there is in fact already an agreement on the table between this welfare assistance organisation and Melbourne’s CO.AS.IT.
Drawing the evening to a close was Secretary General Luigi Sbarra, who said it was “an honour” to be present to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of INAS, which is “an associative, social and trade union experience, that in Australia has been born out of commitment, generosity, militancy and belonging.”
“We believe a great deal in the presence of trade unions in the world, and in Australia. The presence of CISL in Australia reaffirms our desire to renew our commitment, and consolidate and strengthen the services that this institution has always offered the community," Sbarra concluded.
