In this episode of Protect The World, I speak with Kon Karapanagiotidis – founder and director of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC). Based in Melbourne, the ASRC works to provide support for refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia.
Australia has a long history of cruel and inhumane treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, which continues to this day, including indefinite detention on remote islands and the use of military force to turn back boats full of desperate people. But for more than two decades, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has remained a resilient beacon of hope.
Kon and his team run a foodbank and a health clinic, they provide housing and legal support, they run training programs and social enterprises, and they lead nationwide campaigns advocating for the rights of those fleeing war and persecution.
Kon is exceptionally hardworking and fiercely idealistic, and he's someone that I've admired for quite a long time, so it was a privilege to finally get the chance to speak with him, and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
As always, half the money that came into the Patreon this month was donated directly to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. This money will go towards fundamental services such as food, medicine and housing, as well as the ASRC's broader efforts in human rights advocacy.
You can donate directly to the ASRC by visiting asrc.org.au, and if you'd like to help me give more money to more amazing NGOs in future, please consider signing up to the Patreon for as little as $5 a month via the following link: patreon.com/brodiehopkinsmedia
You can follow the ASRC on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and you can also follow the rest of my own work on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
A huge thank you to everyone who supports this podcast, and to Kon Karapanagiotidis for joining me on this episode. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to leave a review and share it with your friends and family. Thanks for listening!
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Additional Links:
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre