Department of Home Affairs – Community Engagement Newsletter: 29 May 2026 [SEC=OFFICIAL]
Dear community representatives,
Thank you for your ongoing support and contributions to the community. The CLO Network has collated the following newsletter of important information from across the Australian Government that may be of interest to yourself and members of your community. Please feel free to forward this newsletter, or any of its sections, to members of your community.
In this fortnight’s edition, you can find information on the following:
New Multicultural Grants Feedback Form
Support Hub launched for communities at risk of Foreign Interference
Scam Alert and Where to Report a Potential Scam
NAATI Consumer Awareness
Step Together Helpline and Digital Support Service
The National Emergency Management Agency Update
Australia’s System of Government Learning Resources
Useful information in your language
Contact us
Support Hub launched for communities at risk of Foreign Interference |
The Department of Home Affairs is committed to strengthening two-way communication with Australia’s diverse communities and ensuring that feedback can be shared safely, easily, and effectively.
As part of this commitment, the Department has introduced a new feedback channel to provide community members with a direct channel to comment on the department’s programs, contribute to improving services, share experiences, or raise concerns. You can use the form to provide:
You can find the form on the Department of Home Affairs website at Multicultural Grants feedback. |
We are aware of a current phone scam impersonating the “Department of Immigration”. Scammers may contact you by phone claiming they are working on our behalf and ask for your personal information. They may also leave a voicemail asking you to call them back.
Do not follow any instructions by the scammer to press a number on the phone keypad for further information. Hang up the call. Our staff will always identify themselves before they ask for any information. You can verify that you are speaking with a departmental officer by asking them to confirm your file number or your application lodgement date.
Remember, our staff will never intimidate you or ask for your:
Credit card information
Banking details
Payment over the phone.
Stay scam safe and remember you can help others by reporting scams to Scamwatch by visiting Report a scam | Scamwatch.
| NAATI Consumer Awareness |
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Step Together is a helpline and digital support service that focuses on early intervention and awareness in the countering violent extremism space. It is operated by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, and funded by the Department of Home Affairs.
Unlike the National Security Hotline, Step Together is not a reporting service. Instead, Step Together has resources that can assist individuals, families, stakeholders and the community to raise awareness on what to look out for and where to go for help if you are concerned about someone you know heading down the wrong path.
For more information and to access the Step Together resources, including their National Programs, please visit What is Step Together and Contact Step Together.
The National Emergency Management Agency Update
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has introduced a new national emergency messaging system, AusAlert. A national AusAlert test will occur on Monday 27 July 2026 at 2:00pm AEST and will be sent to all mobile phones across Australia.
As part of the test:
Mobile phones will receive a message and sound the alert even if they are on silent or do not disturb.
If a phone is switched off or on aeroplane mode at the time of the alert, the alarm will sound once the phone is switched back on or reconnects to the network.
People will receive a message like this to their phone as well as an alarm sound (image above).
NEMA has provided stakeholder communication resources via their website: Stakeholders | AusAlert. Translated information is available in a range of community languages.
Australia’s System of Government Learning Resources
The Constitutional Centre of Western Australia has developed three self‑learning civic education modules to support community understanding of Australia’s system of government, democracy, and civic participation.
These modules focus on three distinct areas of Australian civic education:
Australia’s system of government: An introduction to Australia’s three levels of government: federal, state (or territory), and local, examining how each level of government works.
Australia’s democracy: An investigation of the concept of democracy through an Australian lens, by examining different types of democracies along with some of the key features of a healthy democratic nation, placing emphasis on our rights and freedoms.
Democracy – You’re standing in it: A ‘guidebook’ to equip Australians on how to actively participate in our democratic society, and the importance of participation.
To access these modules for yourself or your community, please visit Australia’s System of Government.
Useful information in your language
