Dr Martin was accompanied by Senator Francesco Giacobbe, who represents Italian citizens living in Oceania, Asia, Africa and Antarctica in Italy’s parliament.
The pair met with the president of CO.AS.IT., Lorenzo Fazzini, as well as the organisation’s general manager, Thomas Camporeale, and members of the management team.
Dr Martin was eager to explore the many services that CO.AS.IT. offers to the Italian community.
Based on the data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Italian is one of the most common ancestries in Reid (Commonwealth Electoral Divisions), with 16,860 of the local population identifying as Italian.
Some 7881 residents identify Italian as the language spoken at home.
Dr Martin, who was elected to the House of Representatives for Reid in 2019, expressed a wealth of knowledge in the areas of aged care, mental health and education, and was keen to hear from the CO.AS.IT. team’s thoughts and experiences in these fields, with the aim of making ongoing improvements.
“[It was] great to learn more about the services that CO.AS.IT. offers our community,” Dr Martin said.
“It’s an organisation with 50 years of experiences in the CALD community services sector.”
CO.AS.IT., which has been serving the community since 1968, receives funding for a number of its community programs, from both the state and federal governments, and has always been a strong advocate for the CALD community and recognised as a prominent community organisation in multicultural NSW.
“We look forward to working with Fiona to continue to offer these crucial services to our Italian community,” Fazzini said.
“We already offer our services to many residents in the areas of Five Dock, Wareemba, Concord, Canada Bay etc., and we hope to develop a long-lasting relationship with the member for Reid to continue to serve this community.”
