Key Points
- Omar Ponsot secured a job in marketing shortly after arriving in Australia as a refugee in 2022.
- He also volunteers to assist refugees with navigating their new lives in Australia.
- Victoria Police are working with Mr Ponsot on a strategy for dealing with the state's Middle Eastern communities.
With a 25-year background in marketing and public engagement, Omar Ponsot says he secured a position in his field shortly after arriving in Australia in 2022.
As marketing manager with refugee service organisation, , he says he was tasked with developing a four-year strategic plan for handling newcomers, particularly refugees.
In his spare time, he says he volunteers in the Arabic-speaking community to improve conditions and communication with relevant authorities.
And it was in this capacity that he attended a Hume Police District meeting in north Melbourne in mid-July this year.
The Hume district covers around 30 suburbs and areas including Broadmeadows, Craigieburn, Roxburgh and the Melbourne Airport.
"I attended a meeting organised by the district to discuss the police's communication with multicultural communities in Hume," Mr Ponsot says.
In that session, he says the region's police chiefs presented their accomplishments in working with communities, but they also spoke about some of the difficulties the police face. In particular, recruiting young Arabic people to the force, he says.
After listening to the police concerns, Mr Ponsot says he presented a potential strategy as to how the police could cut through the difficulties of working with multicultural communities.
Police reach out
Several weeks after that meeting, Mr Ponsot says his phone rang unexpectedly, and he was contacted by a police officer from Victoria Police wanting to discuss his proposals.
“I did not expect that they would pay so much attention to what I put forward, but they actually listened to every word I said," he says.
"They arranged for me to meet with them (Victoria police chiefs) in July 2023 and we discussed all the details of my proposals (for more than two hours)."
According to Mr Ponsot, his proposals focus on new approaches to dealing with youth, women, and members of multicultural communities, which he argues will improve police communication with communities.
The Victoria Police are keen to interact more effectively with the Arabic diaspora living in the Hume district to Melbourne's north. Credit: Victoria Police
"The proposals are promising, and work with the police is in its infancy, but the cooperation may last for months or even years," he says.
Humanitarian visa
Mr Ponsot, his wife and two children spent five years in Iraq after fleeing a war in their home country of Syria.
They were finally able to settle in Australia in 2022 with humanitarian visas.
While Mr Ponsot had left behind a successful career in fashion, design, and university teaching, he says he was able to use all of those experiences to get a job when he arrived in Australia.
"Everything you do in your life, your work, and your communication with people adds something positive to your human and practical experiences, and this is what happened to me," Mr Ponsat told SBS Arabic24.
Omar Ponsot (second L) met with police chiefs and others to discuss strategies for greater engagement between Victoria Police and the Middle Eastern community.
