Victorian Refugee Health Network Statewide meetings occur three times per year, providing a space to identify sector issues, prioritise areas for shared work and share service innovations. These meetings welcome anyone working in refugee health or supporting people from refugee backgrounds to access health services and are facilitated online via Microsoft Teams.

Join us for the first meeting of 2026 to hear recent policy, settlement and data updates from agencies such as Refugee Council of Australia, AMES Australia, and the Victorian Refugee Health Network. Guest speakers will be announced closer to the date.

If you would like to raise any ongoing or emerging issues to our attention, please contact refugeehealth@foundationhouse.org.au. We look forward to hearing from you.

Interested in past Statewide Meetings?

The Network’s Statewide Meetings occur on a quarterly basis. Take a look at past Statewide Meeting presentation slides and data bulletins to see what we have covered. In November 2025, we welcomed speakers from the following agencies and groups:

• Rebecca Eckard, Refugee Council of Australia, presenting on policy updates;
• Gerard Murren, AMES Australia, presenting on settlement updates;
• Samina Hassan, Victorian Refugee Health Network presenting on recent settlement data;
• Veronica Steegs, Rural and Regional Working Group Representative, presenting on refugee and asylum seeker health in rural and regional settings.

The following guest speakers were also present at this Statewide Meeting:

• Merilyn Spratling, EACH, presenting an overview of refugee health needs in Community Health settings;
• Dr Lester Mascarenhas, Utopia Refugee Health, presenting Utopia Refugee and Asylum Seeker Health’s Model of Care.

The Victorian Refugee Health Network reiterates it’s auspicing agency’s acknowledgement of country:

The primary locations of the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture Inc., Brunswick, Dallas, Dandenong, Sunshine, and our outpost location in Ringwood, are on the traditional lands of the Kulin nation.  In keeping with Foundation House’s aspiration to heal individuals and communities we recognise the loss of land, children, language, lore and spiritual and physical wellbeing of the people of the Kulin nation and other Indigenous Victorians due to the impact of colonisation.

We believe that acknowledging the past and its impact on the present is vital in building strong Victorian communities. We recognise the survival and enduring strengths of Victorian Indigenous culture in spite of such dispossession and aim to build respectful and informed relationships with the Victorian Indigenous community based on the acknowledgment of their unique position as the traditional owners of Victoria. As such, Foundation House is committed to the acknowledgment and participation of Indigenous Victorians within Foundation House events and this is reflected in our official protocols.

The Victorian Refugee Health Network reiterates it’s auspicing agency’s acknowledgement of country:

The primary locations of the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture Inc., Brunswick, Dallas, Dandenong, Sunshine, and our outpost location in Ringwood, are on the traditional lands of the Kulin nation.  In keeping with Foundation House’s aspiration to heal individuals and communities we recognise the loss of land, children, language, lore and spiritual and physical wellbeing of the people of the Kulin nation and other Indigenous Victorians due to the impact of colonisation.

We believe that acknowledging the past and its impact on the present is vital in building strong Victorian communities. We recognise the survival and enduring strengths of Victorian Indigenous culture in spite of such dispossession and aim to build respectful and informed relationships with the Victorian Indigenous community based on the acknowledgment of their unique position as the traditional owners of Victoria. As such, Foundation House is committed to the acknowledgment and participation of Indigenous Victorians within Foundation House events and this is reflected in our official protocols.