Manpreet wins Media Award for Excellence

The year 2011 ended on a very positive note for SBS Punjabi’s host Manpreet Kaur Singh. On December 14 she received the prestigious Media Award for Excellence from Nicholas Kotsiras, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship. Manpreet Kaur was recognised for her work ranging from investigative reporting on violence against Indian students in Australia in recent years, to inspirational stories of friendship between Indians and Australians. Manpreet migrated to Australia in 1991, and has worked for 18 years as the host on the SBS Punjabi programme, currently holding the position of Executive Producer at SBS. Over the years Manpreet has excelled in positive reporting while covering a variety of topics ranging from public interest, social justice and cultural cohesion. In 2009 when Australia came under media scrutiny with incidents of violence against international students, Manpreet initiated an investigation into the number of suspicious deaths of international students, demanding Freedom of Information from the Department of Immigration & Citizenship. (The Department replied after 6 months of legal letters, emails, etc, that there were 183 deaths between 2003-2009). She conducted numerous interviews with victims of violence/police authorities/listeners and also asked the question on why female students from India were not represented in the statistics of violence against Indian students.

Among many stories, Manpreet received commendation for her heart-rending interview with Harpreet Kaur, mother of Gurshan, the 3-year-old toddler who was killed by their roommate. She rose to fame with her landmark story of pioneer Sikh-Aussie Pooran Singh’s ashes being taken back to his native Punjab, more than 63 years after his death and cremation in Australia in 1947. The Pooran Singh story has now been included as an educational resource for high school students and teachers by the Education Services of Australia.

Manpreet was nominated as a finalist for the UN Media Peace Awards for three consecutive years - 2008, 2009 and 2010, the only non-English entry at the awards each time.

Manpreet is also a columnist with sikhchic.com and writes for several reputed Indian publications. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and three children, who are very proud of her achievements.

Since the construction work began, traders have had several meetings with Vic Urban and Planning Minister Mathew Guy; Shadow Planning Minister Brian Tee and Jude Perera MP, and have also raised this issue in Parliament. A letter was handed to Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu, and he was also made aware of the problems. In addition to this, a petition signed by over 800 supporters was submitted in Parliament on December 6, followed by a protest held outside the Parliament House recently.

Planning Minister Matthew Guy said, when responding to questions about Little India in Parliament, “We are doing what we can to resolve those on-the-ground issues and to ensure that in the first instance people know Dandenong’s Little India precinct is trading, is operating well, is a place to visit and is a terrific addition to central Dandenong.”

According to Manoj Kumar, who represents the Labor Party, traders are demanding immediate rent relief, as street closures for over two years have caused significant losses to the trading. The RCD project is a 15-20 year project so they need the assurance that traders will be able to operate without further disruption to the business in future. Traders are also demanding a fair go as allegedly only some traders were paid compensation for their businesses, while the remaining ones were left in limbo. They also want assurance that the new development will not affect the iconic site negatively and that they will be relocated properly once the shops are demolished. The community is very concerned as it does not want to lose this unique multicultural icon and would prefer it to remain as Foster Street in Dandenong, with value addition. A recent report suggests that Vic Urban has sent a letter to all traders offering six months rent relief. “While this initiative is welcome, it certainly is not enough to save and protect this unique icon,” said Manoj Kumar

In a bid to drum up customers, Little India will be promoted in Indian newspapers and have a website created for the precinct in an attempt to placate worried traders. Dominic Arcaro, the planning authority’s development officer, said that Little India was one of the area’s most popular attractions.

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