CALD spokespersons briefing at SBS Radio

Front Row l-r: CFA's Dawn Hartog with CALD spokespersons Ms Zeljka Mariani, Ms Sarina Phan and Ms Inaam Barakat.
Back Row l-r: DSE's Cindy Hann with CALD spokespersons Mr Michelle Giacomi, Ms Jelena Petkovic, Alex Thorp, Mr Hosain Riazi, Ms Aylin Aras Yurdakul

CFA recently conducted its third annual summer briefing for its Cultural and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) spokespersons at SBS Radio’s studio at Federation Square, Melbourne. The briefing was part of a CFA joint media campaign with DSE, MFB and DHS.

The CALD representatives are involved in the educational and media aspects of CFA’s core summer fire safety messages. Nine spokespersons attended, representing the Arabic, Afghan, Croatian, Italian, Khmer, Persian, Serbian, Turkish and Vietnamese communities.

The two-hour briefing was an opportunity for the CALD spokespersons to get together, network and be updated on the upcoming summer season. CFA’s Community Development Coordinator Dawn Hartog led the session, with presentations from DSE and LOTE Marketing representatives.

The CALD spokespersons got a glimpse into the current fire situation, and watched a video on the pre-season update for the 2008-09. They also enjoyed a tour of SBS facilities. Each spokesperson received an information kit containing agency information on the core summer fire safety documents.

The CALD spokespersons will pre-record messages for Total Fire Ban (TFB) declarations and 30-second radio announcements on summer fire safety messages during their language slots on both SBS and local radio. They will also conduct live-to-air, pre-scripted interviews that will run several times throughout the fire declaration period.