Yasotha runs a biscuit shop in a small village in Manthai East, Sri Lanka. by GOWSHAN NANDAKUMAR Source: Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade The shop serves tea and groundnut biscuits from a glass cabinet. Yasotha welcomes customers into the shop with a heartwarming smile. “I enjoy being able to give something [to] people who are thirsty and hungry,” she says. Both Yasotha and her husband Senthilrasan live with disability after being hit with shrapnel. Yasotha was hit in her head when she was only 14 years old. Now, with the shrapnel still inside her body, she has difficulties with mobility and coordination. Senthilrasan was hit by shrapnel during two different incidents. He lost control over his right hand first, and then had an incident involving his leg. Confident he could work as well as any able-bodied person, he learnt to write with his non dominant left hand. The couple ...

Read More →

Sri Lanka Tourism and Australia’s MDF webinar to Share Insights from 10,000 Consumers from 10 Key Markets to Strategically Promote Tourism Reopening Source:bizenglish.adaderana.lk Members of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry are set to gain useful insights from a survey of 10,000 travel consumers across 10 key Sri Lankan source markets, in a webinar organised by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) in collaboration with Market Development Facility (MDF), Australia’s flagship private sector development program. “Business and Consumer Insights for Tourism Reopening in Sri Lanka” will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, 30 November, at 2.30 pm. The discussion panel will comprise Ms. Kimarli Fernando – Chairperson, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority; Mr. Hiran Cooray – Chairman, Jetwing Symphony PLC and Chairman, Tourism Advisory Committee; and Mr. Oliver Martin – Partner, Twenty 31 Consulting Inc. The webinar will be moderated by Katherine Droga – Founder, Droga & Co. The discussion will focus ...

Read More →

WEBXPAY partners Australian Government to empower Sri Lankan MSMEs with digital payments Focused on revitalisation of rural economies, promoting gender and social inclusion Targeting rural job creation, eradication of unemployment, improved standards of living Lower barriers to MSME participation in digital ecosystem, island-wide e-commerce proliferation Aims to empower more women to be financially independent entrepreneurs Commences research into impact of e-commerce on rural entrepreneurs, women-led businesses Leading online payment gateway, WEBXPAY announced a milestone partnership with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to significantly expand access to digital payments for Sri Lankan Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).   The DFAT Partnership for Recovery is part of a series aimed at promoting regional economic recovery. Leveraging WEBXPAY’s ground-breaking payment gateway and integrated e-commerce solutions, the initiative aims to empower MSMEs across the island to plug in and benefit from Sri Lanka’s burgeoning digital ecosystem, with a special emphasis on ...

Read More →

Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021: Dr Selvanayagam Selvendra, OAM By Rajni Anand Luthra Source:-indianlink It was with characteristic humility that Dr Selvendra OAM accepted congratulations for his Queen’s Birthday honour. “I’m grateful to the Australian government for recognising my services to the community,” he said with understated elegance. He received the honour this year for service to multicultural organisations, and to medicine. Much of Melbourne’s recent Hindu migrants might not have heard of Dr Selvendra, but they would all have visited community hotspots that he launched, or participated in iconic annual events that he began decades ago. Foremost among these are three well-known places of worship that Dr Selvendra has seen grow from small-scale gathering spots to large community structures that now welcome prime ministers and public figures. These include the Hindu Society of Victoria’s Shiva Vishnu Temple, which sits on 15 acres of land at Carrum Downs. Dr Selvendra was a ...

Read More →

New Colombo Plan: a pillar of Australia’s Public Diplomacy By Arundathie Abeysinghe   The New Colombo Plan (NCP), a signature initiative of the Australian Government is a scholarship program offered to undergraduates in Australian Universities studying diverse disciplines in approximately 40 locations in the Indo-Pacific region. Scholars undertake study, internship or mentorship as well as language training during a 12 month period. The Australian Government has reinforced its public diplomacy endeavors in the Indo-Pacific region to persuade foreign public opinion. As such, the NCP is advocated as a pillar of the Australian Government’s Public Diplomacy Strategy emphasizing its accomplishments to foster a secure future for Australia in the Indo-Pacific region. NCP is a flexible mobility grants program for short and long term study, workshops, *practicum as well as research programs. The scholarship program is granted to scholars in partnership with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), host ...

Read More →

New measures to help Australia’s economic recovery in 2021   Source:-miragenews As 2021 begins, the Morrison Government continues to deliver on its Economic Recovery Plan, building back from the COVID-19 crisis by securing Australian jobs and keeping businesses in business. From 1 January 2021, a number of new measures come into effect across government including: The most significant changes to Australia’s insolvency framework in 30 years, reducing costs, cutting red tape and helping more small businesses recover from the pandemic. The reforms introduce a new, simplified debt restructuring process, drawing on key features of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy model in the United States. These measures apply to incorporated businesses with liabilities of less than $1 million – covering around 76 per cent of businesses subject to insolvencies today, 98 per cent of whom who have less than 20 employees. Australians will have more power to choose their own superannuation fund, ...

Read More →

  Australian government created fake, negative horoscopes to deter Sri Lankan asylum-seekers – By Nicole Darrah – Fox News Sourse:-Fox News Australia’s Department of Home Affairs created fake, negative horoscopes with the hope it would deter Sri Lankan asylum-seekers from trying to enter Australia, according to a report. The horoscopes, obtained and published by BuzzFeed News on Tuesday, include predictions for those who may try to emigrate to the country, and state they’re “a message by the Australian government.” ASYLUM-SEEKER WHO BOTCHED PENIS ENLARGEMENT WINS ENTRY TO AUSTRALIA “If you attempt to illegally travel to Australia by boat, expect people smugglers to take advantage of you,” the horoscope for Aries reads. “These criminals will take your money and you will be returned to Sri Lanka with nothing.” If they emigrate to Australia, Capricorns will be putting their lives at risk, according to the poster, which adds: “Deciding to risk your life on dangerous seas and unpredictable ...

Read More →

    “STOP THE BOATS” (AGAIN) – By Des Kelly They say that “history repeats itself”. Well, for just a while there, the Australian Government did stop the boats from illegally entering this great brown Land, so enticing to thousands of refugees from all over the World. Lately, IN the Country (called the Lucky Country, by many people), we have had different problems to deal with, including, for example, the “homeless” folk, both old and young, many varied Royal-Commissions, left, right, & centre, the Adani Mine, and a potentially impossible loss of a term of  Government,  by the present Opposition or Labor Party, in the General Election held very recently. NOTHING is really impossible, and well, Labor not only “lost”, but lost comprehensively. So, this means that, for the next three years, we now have a “majority” Liberal/ National Party to run the lucky Country & stop any unlucky happenings, hopefully, (he says). ...

Read More →