Mariam Veiszadeh

Media Diversity Australia (MDA) is launching the Women of Colour mentorship program supported and funded by the Crescent Foundation to empower female journalists from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to attain leadership positions in Australian media.

The mentorship program, which has attracted Monash University and University of Melbourne as partners, is designed to address the dramatic lack of women in Australian media senior decision-making roles.

Despite Australia being one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world the representations of these cultures in Australian media is poor. A report released by MDA in 2020 found that only 5.9% of television appearances by presenters, commentators, and reporters were from non-European or Indigenous people. The overwhelming majority (75.8%) were of Anglo-Celtic background.

While on-screen representation of diversity was poor, the picture was even more stark for those behind the scenes in positions of power. The report found that at that time every national news director in Australia, without exception, was an Anglo-Celtic male. Only 28% of those working in the most senior news media roles were women, and all of them were of Anglo-Celtic background.

MDA will select 12 mid-career, women journalists of First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to take part in the mentoring program. Mentees for the program will include alumni from Monash University and the University of Melbourne. Over 12 months, each mentee will be paired with an established media professional and receive in-person and online sessions to build their skills in leadership, presentation, compelling storytelling, and career development.

As part of the program, mentees will find and write stories of personal resonance with the chance of being published and will be invited to attend networking events where they will meet senior journalists and high-profile media professionals.

MDA CEO Mariam Veiszadeh says lack of media leadership diversity is concerning on a number of levels and needs to be addressed.

“The media is a megaphone for culture – it not only reflects but has the incredible power to create and influence social and cultural norms. The faces, voices, stories and perspectives that are reflected back at audiences have broad implications. The decisions made in the top echelons of the industry, whether in production content, coverage or sources ultimately impact Australian culture and social cohesion.

“Consistently, across several industries, women of colour tend to be overlooked when it comes to moving into senior positions of power. While many programs seek to help open doors for women, not many focus on ensuring those women are also offered a seat at the decision-making table – this program does precisely that,” said Veiszadeh.

The Crescent Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation with a goal of opening opportunities to everyone regardless of race, background, or cultural identity and supports initiatives that bring about catalysing change in our communities.

Executive Director Sayd Farook said the Crescent Foundation was proud to support MDA through its Crescent Community Grants Program, which also supported refugee education, combating homelessness and preserving Islamic cultural heritage.

“Media Diversity Australia is a unique, values-driven not-for-profit organisation led by journalists and media professionals. Through initiatives like this one, they are championing diversity in Australian journalism and news media and driving positive change in our society,” he said.

Mentees for the program will be selected from Monash University and the University of Melbourne alumni. These alumni and MDA representatives will be invited to address students at events at the universities.

Andrew Dodd Director, Centre for Advancing Journalism at University of Melbourne said: “We’re just not getting the whole story when the same voices are doing all the talking. This mentorship program has benefits for everyone. More people are empowered to speak and we are all rewarded with deeper, richer and fresher accounts of this diverse world.”

Associate Professor Fay Anderson Deputy Head of the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University added: “The School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University is privileged and honoured to sponsor Media Diversity Australia’s Women of Colour Mentorship Program. The lack of diversity and inclusion in Australian news media is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed. It is critical that our journalists reflect the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of Australian society. We look forward to working with Media Diversity Australia on this vital initiative.”

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Sayd Farook

Islamic finance specialist Crescent Finance has launched two innovative investment funds that for the first time will give the clients of Australian financial planners, Self-Managed Super Funds and institutional investors access to a fully diversified portfolio of hundreds of Australian residential properties.

Chaired by economist and former Liberal Party leader Dr John Hewson, the company’s flagship Crescent Growth Fund will give investors access to leveraged capital appreciation of the value of residential real estate in a broad portfolio that spans Australia’s property markets.

Residential Australian real estate has returned an average of 10.1% p.a. over the past 25 years. The companion Crescent Finance Income Fund will give investors access to rent received from the growth fund’s residential properties leased out to tenants with targeted returns of 3% – 4.45% p.a.

The funds expect to raise an initial $100 million by the end of this year and finance more than $5 billion of property transactions over the next five years.

Crescent Finance Managing Director Dr Sayd Farook said that as well as giving investors unprecedented access to ‘safe as houses’ pooled residential real estate, his company sought to turn two problems into investment opportunities.

The first was to find a way to meet strong demand from institutional investors, especially those from Southeast Asia that wanted to invest in Australia’ residential property market in an Islamically compliant way. Crescent Finance will achieve this through the structure of both funds, which will be endorsed by world renowned scholars.

Because the funds will be Islamically compliant, this in turn will allow them to be a source of residential finance for hundreds of thousands of Australians who cannot participate in Australia’s property market due to the lack of authentic Islamic options that avoid the paying of interest, which is forbidden in Islam.

Dr Farook, who is the former Global Head of Islamic Capital markets for Thomson Reuters, said the authenticity of Crescent Finance’s approach to Islamic finance set it apart.

“Crescent Finance – unlike other Islamic Finance institutions, plans to provide authentic structures whereby they co-invest funds that are not simply borrowed from a conventional bank at an interest rate and wrapped in legalese to make them appear Islamically compliant.

“Such providers have been around for many years and in effect are mortgage broking firms with a twist and do not pass the basic smell test on ‘where did you get your money from?’ Crescent Finance plans to answer that question decisively and transparently,” he said.

The potential size of the market for Islamic residential finance in Australia is estimated to be almost $200 billion. In Australia 42% of Muslims are married and Australian Muslim women have 2.5 children on average and yet only 15% of Muslims own their own homes.

Dr Farook said Crescent Finance funds would be available for investment for everyone and not just Muslims and would be offered to anyone who wanted an equitable and ethical partnership-based approach to financing their homes.

“One of our first customers is not Muslim and wants to use the legal infrastructure to purchase properties for his children using a self-managed super fund,” he added.

Dr Hewson, a long-term supporter of Islamic Finance in Australia, said he was pleased to be able to help steer the launch of the two innovate financial products.  “What excites me most is the equitable and social implications of the funds, allowing younger and previously excluded Australians to enter the residential property market, which has become increasingly unaffordable and inaccessible, given the stratospheric rise in property values relative to incomes.

“I also believe that these products will have significant appeal to a wide cross-section of Australians who are looking for ‘integrity and transparency’ in financial planning after the excesses and abuses identified by the Hayne Royal Commission,” Dr Hewson said.

Crescent Finance was established in 2020 to provide Islamically compliant residential finance. It is part of the Crescent Group which also includes the Crescent Wealth Islamic super fund which has a member base of more than 10,000 and manages approximately $300 million in funds, as well as not-for-profit entities the Crescent Institute and the Crescent Foundation.

Apart from Dr John Hewson, Crescent Finance’s board members include Miriam Silva, member of the board of CEDA, Keri Pratt, Non-Executive Director for several superannuation trustees and financial institutions, Professor Talal Yassine, Managing Director of Crescent Wealth, and Dr Farook, who until recently was Strategy and Innovation Advisor to the Office of the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

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