Event organizers, Ms Nora Amath and Ms Susan Almaani flank Ms Sussan Ley and Mrs Maria Vamavakinou         A sell-out crowd of over 300 attended the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) fund raising dinner at Michael's Oriental Restaurant last night where Joint Chairs of the Federal Parliamentary Friends of Palestine Mrs Maria Vamavakinou MP (ALP Federal Member for Calwell in Victoria) and Hon Sussan Ley MP (Coalition Federal Member for Farrer in NSW) were the keynote speakers.   Master of Ceremonies, Mr. Anas Abdalla, also introduced Dr Halim Rane who spoke about his latest book on Australian Israeli-Palestine foreign policy and APAN Executive Member, Mr David Forde who spoke on the role of APAN and the need for greater political advocacy on behalf of the Palestinians.

A QUEENSLAND school is suing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a last-ditch attempt to recoup more than $2 million in unpaid fees.
 

In what is believed to be the first action of its kind, the Australian International Islamic College in Durack has issued a writ in the NSW Supreme Court against the kingdom and an education official, Ahmad Ibn Mohammad Al Saif, claiming fees due under the prestigious King Abdullah program have been outstanding for more than three years. The Saudi government program is the world's largest overseas student scholarship.
 

The college, which has campuses in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, is one of many schools across Queensland, NSW and Victoria that have been educating the children of thousands of Saudi students who are in Australia to further their studies under the program.
 

Its chairman, Imam Abdul Quddoos Al-Azhari, said he had been forced to take action because years of talks with Saudi officials in Canberra and Riyadh had failed to produce payment.
 

The executive director of Independent Schools Queensland, David Robertson, who has been acting on behalf of the school, said the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in Canberra, which arranges funding for the students' costs, was very slow in making payments.
 

''It has got to the point where the school won't enrol international students unless they pay upfront,'' Mr Robertson said.

It has got to the point where the school won't enrol international students unless they pay upfront   David Robertson

But the Saudi Arabian ambassador, Hassan Talat Nazer, told The Sun-Herald the matter was a ''long story'' involving an administrative mix-up by the college over who would pay the fees. He said he was working to solve the problems.
 

''The money is owed from three years ago. It takes time,'' he said. ''I have to follow up a list of those students [who are no longer in Australia]. We did not do anything against the law.''
 

The problem appears to be more widespread, however, with Muslim community leaders confirming other schools have also contacted the Saudi embassy in Canberra demanding payment of outstanding fees.
 

Mitry Lawyers, based in Sydney, has filed a statement of claim in NSW on behalf of the Queensland college. It said it had sought the help of the offices of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs over the debt, which was threatening the school's viability.
 

The statement of claim says the Saudi Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Mr Al Saif, agreed in August last year to pay the fees to avoid a lawsuit and the issue becoming public because it ''could have caused embarrassment and affected the international standing and reputation of the defendants and the integrity of defendants' overseas scholarship programs''.
 

Yet the college alleges the money has still not been paid.
 

Mr Nazer said in an interview last month with the Middle-East Times, a Sydney newspaper, that there were about 9000 Saudi students studying in Australia. Visa requirements for the students include that they or their sponsor (the Saudi government) must provide $8000 a year for the education of each of their dependent children.

The last possible thing to think about is money   Hassan Talat Nazer

The chief executive officer of Universities Australia, Glenn Withers, said the King Abdullah scholars studied in almost all states and territories across Australia, but were most concentrated in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

 

He said almost 1000 of the scholars were in Australia on postgraduate research visas, contributing to the research output of Australia's universities.
 

Mr Nazer has said there were 120,000 to 150,000 students studying outside the kingdom at any one time and that his government had spent up to $600 million on students studying in Australia alone.

He said the students were fully supported by the Saudi government and about 70 per cent of them had travelled with their spouses and children, many of whom were studying in Australian schools.
 

''The last possible thing to think about is money,'' Mr Nazer said.
 

''The kingdom cares about education and to create an educated generation that can help to get the kingdom up, especially as the kingdom does rely on a foreign workforce from Arab and non-Arab countries.''
 

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

The Metropolitan South Region held its first meeting for 2013 of the QPS/Muslim Community Reference Group Meeting on 27th February..

Sergeant Jim Bellos chaired the meeting, which was attended by QPS representatives including Acting Assistant Commissioner Gayle Hogan, Acting Chief Superintendent Mick Nilano, Acting Superintendent Don Mannutt and Superintendent Darryl Johnson, as well as representatives from numerous Muslim community organisations, schools, Islamic Societies, and state and federal government departments.

The attendees discussed various issues, most notably, the QPS Organisational Restructure, local policing issues, upcoming events in the Muslim community and community funding available for Multicultural projects.

There were two presentations, one from Detective Superintendent Darryl Johnson [QPS] and the other from Zoltan Swain, Community Liaison Officer (CLO), DIAC.

The next meeting will be held on Thursday 13th of June 2013 at 6pm. However due to the QPS restructure this meeting, and subsequent meetings, will now be held at Upper Mount Gravatt Police Station, next to Palmdale Shopping Centre on Logan Road (Nando’s).

Anyone interested who wants to be on the mailing list to receive meeting minutes; futures agendas and meeting dates, email Sgt Jim Bellos at Bellos.Dimitrios@police.qld.gov.au.

With voting ending on 20 March, Runcorn’s Raihaan Esat is still in contention with 920 votes and in overall 7th position in Queensland. But to qualify for the regional finals, he must be in the top five when voting ends.

The support from the community has been fantastic so far but Raihaan needs a vote every day from the whole community to realize his dream of making it to the Regional finals.

To vote, click on this link which takes you directly to his page.

Dr. John L. Esposito, Editor in Chief, discusses how Oxford Islamic Studies Online can benefit online research, and how modern conflicts in the Islamic world are influencing today's academic community.