PART ONE
There are many questions and my English is not very good and the space very small but I will try to give some basic answers.
When I speak for migrants basic rights I mean very simple things. For example, Equal opportunities, respect to personality and integrity of migrants, equal pay for equal work, no humiliation, no bulling.
1. When I went for first time the person who had to train me moved against me and said me angrily <<shut up your mouth >> This was the welcome from my trainer.Do you know that even single instances of discrimination at a key decision point can have long-term cumulative effects? When later I went to see a new employee from Italian background I found his place in big mess, I asked him why did do not use a funnel and he said me he did not know about it. His trainer was there, he saw the mess but did not tell anything to Italian man. Extremely bad behavior to migrants, no training or bad training. For example Renato a German background woman left her job crying, Paul a Jews man I found him crying in his job, Ann a woman from Finland left her job with problems, An other Italian man left his job without to accept a present and without to say good buy. For me the humiliation was endless, for example one liked to see me cleaning the floor, every time he came there every time he said me the same thing. <<clean the floor!>>. I do not know what you think about me but I am not idiot, about 130 IQ, I read thousand of books my reference from my last job writes <<leader of the Union Movement>>, few years before I wrote an article for the File systems of OS of computers. I found it in American Universities for student exercises. They did not permit me to use the Guillotine for more than 12 years when every new Anglo Saxon employee use it from the next week.

Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

PART TWO
To renew my my children' passport, I went or phoned 70 times in the Office in Adelaide and a fax from Adelaide to Australia's High Commission in Nicosia took about 100 days. I have avoided the public services of cause bad experiences for many times. The available public services to migrants is not enough good. When my son return from a school camping he was crying because they was laughing with his poor English and put him to clean the toilets every day. One day a teacher phoned and said me that my son does not know enough good English and may be fail to finish the school, but my son was excellent in English before him and now studying English language at Flinders University. Migrants have huge problems in their work place, with the public services and they do not know or can not find their rights.The existing low is extremely weak. Personally for long time I cleaned the floor, now I am cleaning the machines and my top position could be when they put me to clean the ceiling. That is the equal opportunities in Australia.
About the democracy in Australia. The leader of the new center left Italian party elected from 3.000.000 (millions)members and friends from the party, the President from the Greek Socialist party elected from 700.000. Can you tell me how ALP leader elected? I know a Greek <<leader>> in Adelaide who deleted the members from the committee when the 7 members from the 9 decided to replace him, When I was counselor (about for one year) in the Trade Union, Printing Division of South Australia, after 8 years we decided for elections, we gave the candidates' forms and Union bureaucracy forgot to sent them to Australia Electoral Commission.
About the political organization, I do not mean only from migrants or only for migrants, I mean an organization who has a sensitive for migrants rights.
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

I understand where you're coming from Foxy. I'd hate though, to see a standard of migrants be low due to political pressure from (potentially) a strong influence. I'm a migrant, my first language is english (I'm a kiwi), but I really think there should be a high standard of literacy and english comprehension before being accepted here. I've worked with other migrants (from many nations) and the hardest thing challenging them (IMO) is communication. Refugees are a different issue, but intensive schooling is important to them.

Deficiencies is these areas create issues...just like the previous poster commented on. I wonder how much of those issues were because of communication issues.

I like the idea, but an advocacy, more so than a political party would be more beneficial. Migrant parties kinda smell like segregation to me.

Foxy

An interesting question. I am not sure how a minority party might give voice to migrants and Indigenous people's needs and rights. For one, the rights of all Australians should be the same ie. equal access to services without discrimination but with recognition that various groups may need assistance and policies that aid in respecting the various cultures and religions, and an understanding of the issues peculiar to all groups.

While the Greens is a minority Party which started with a small voice that grew with the advent of global warming, it represents ALL people in an effort to preserve the environment in which we live.

Would such a Party as you suggest be more divisive? I am not sure and are there already enough mechanisms and platforms in place to provide a voice if utilised?

Also can there be one voice for migrants and Indigenous peoples? They are two quite separate groups with different cultural needs. Indeed migrant groups consist of many different cultures and there is disagreement even within cultures and religions.

But in a democracy anyone can establish a Party with enough numbers and this is a given right.

A Symeonakis,

From the tone of your posts you seem like you would annoy me if i were your supervisor and would probably give you a wide berth.

Go with the flow mate if you dont like your job get another one. Im sure Adelaide has got to be full of roosters like you.

You complain about government departments and the crap you have to go through to get anything achieved. Well mate, join the bloody cue, thats what beauracrats do, they stuff us all around so your not Robinson Crusoe there old son.

Mate I reckon your full of it and if not then you should think back to how great your country of birth was and the reasons you left it were. If you still think were a pack of assholes then I strongly encourage you to pack up you missus and kids and head back off to Greece or where ever and live among that great thriving country where there is no social security or safety net as we provide to cretins like you.

In final, dont let the door hit you in the back on the way out.

Foxy “where does Australian come into the picture?

What is the difference between citizenship and nationality?”

As a “Migrant” I can maybe answer these questions as I see them

Being “Australian” is to be prepared to relinquish the citizenship and all allegiances to the land of my birth. However, without forgetting the affection I hold for the “Old Dart”.

“Citizenship” tends to be a matter of law, “nationality” is more a matter of the heart.

Talking from the heart:

I am English by Birth, Australian by Choice.

So I remain unsure of exactly who Foxy means by “Migrant” however, I would observe, the labor party, the liberal party, the national, the democrats, greens, family first and every other party comprise members whose historic origins are either “indigenous” or “migrant” and I think the sooner we leave such classifications behind, instead of having them continually pressed into our faces, the sooner we will become a unified nation.

One thing I noticed when I lived in USA, for a couple of years, sadly more significantly than occurs in Australia, the question of ethnic origin (Caucasian, Negro, Hispanic, Oriental, Native American etc.) appears on just about every official document one sights. I think such practices help maintain and entrench the racial problems which blight the USA and they would do better if they gave up that irrelevant mythology too.