Kindness Company

03/04/2026

I know many of us are exhausted.
The news keeps coming. Each development more devastating than the last. And there is a very human temptation, when things feel this relentless, to look away. To protect ourselves by going quiet.

I want to gently name that, and ask us not to.
This week, the United Nations condemned Israel’s newly passed death penalty law as a discriminatory regime of capital punishment that violates international human rights law.

The law, passed by the Knesset on 30 March, applies almost exclusively to Palestinians, tried in military courts with a conviction rate of over 96%, where confessions extracted under torture are routinely used as evidence. Death by hanging, within 90 days of sentencing, with no right to pardon. UN experts have called it a war crime. A grave escalation. An entrenching of apartheid.

This is not a distant, abstract legal matter. This is state-sanctioned killing, designed along ethnic lines, condemned by the International Court of Justice, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and governments around the world.

And it is happening while we scroll.
I’m not here to add to the guilt many of us already carry. I know the overwhelm is real. I know that for many of us, especially those working in communities that have faced their own histories of state violence and dispossession, this kind of news lands in the body, not just the mind.

But silence, even exhausted silence, becomes complicity over time.
So here’s what I’d invite, wherever you are on the Gold Coast or beyond:

🫶🏾Stay informed from credible sources: OHCHR, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch. Share what you learn. Information shared by real people in real networks still matters.

🫶🏾Contact your federal MP and Senator. Tell them you expect Australia to use its voice at the UN, and in bilateral relationships, to call for the repeal of this law and accountability for what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank. You can find your rep at aph.gov.au

🫶🏾Support Australian organisations doing solidarity and advocacy work: the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network, and others doing local policy work.

🫶🏾Join or follow your local Palestine solidarity group, there are people organising.

🫶🏾You don’t have to be an expert or an activist. You just have to show up.

🫶🏾And perhaps most importantly: talk about this with the people around you. At the dinner table. At your community group. In your workplace.

Normalising the conversation is itself a form of resistance to the numbness that atrocity relies on.

We are people who believe in dignity. In the right to life. In the equal worth of every human being. This is a moment to let those values be louder than our fatigue. 🙏🏾 https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/04/israels-death-penalty-law-constitutes-discriminatory-regime-capital

GENEVA – Israel’s new law effectively providing for the death penalty solely against Palestinians constitutes a discriminatory regime of capital punishment and manifestly violates Israel’s obligations under international human rights law, UN experts* said today.“We condemn the Knesset’s ad...

18/03/2026

I was recently invited by CareSearch: Palliative Care to write a blog on Community Solutions to End of Life Care for their series.

The work Linda Kurti and I undertook with Conversations That Count brought me back to something I hold close, that community-led care at end of life is not an either/or story. It’s both.

Us, as community members, stepping up, having the conversations, showing up for each other, building the kind of death literacy that makes a real difference. And meaningful investment to scale what’s already working in our local communities.

Grassroots movements are doing extraordinary things. But community-driven work can only grow so far on goodwill and volunteer hours alone. When we combine the heart of community with the resources to sustain it, that’s when real, lasting change happens.

“Community solutions to end-of-life care don’t begin in hospitals, they begin with people. They begin with us.”

I’d love to know, where have you seen community step up around death and dying? And where do you think investment is most needed?

👉🏽 Read the full blog 🔗 https://www.caresearch.com.au/About-Us/Newsroom/Palliative-Perspectives/Palliative-Perspectives-Blog-Details/ArtMID/17907/ArticleID/6477/Community-solutions-to-end-of-life-care-Where-connection-culture-and-community-meet
Compassionate Communities Australia

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

19/02/2026

I’ve shared some personal reflections on my experience as a child migrant, four decades on. If you have a few minutes, I’d value you reading and sharing it. If it makes you a little uncomfortable, that’s ok. That’s part of creating space, growing the conversation and understanding.

And thank you to the allies, past and present who listen, advocate, make space, and stand alongside those of us telling these stories. We must stand together in fostering more kindness and compassion. Your support matters more than you know.

Introduction by Croakey: Racism is deeply embedded across Australian universities, and has profound impacts upon students and staff, according to

16/01/2026

Ongoing and escalating conflicts around the world don’t just affect those overseas. They have real emotional impacts here in Australia. On individuals, families, communities, and people with lived experience of war and displacement.
Witness to War is a free, national support line for anyone impacted by war and conflict.

If global events are weighing on you or someone you care about, you don’t have to carry it alone. Reach out. Help is here.

14/12/2025

This afternoon, Lynn Berger, Gina Conolly and I held a Sunset Loss and Remembrance Circle, a space dedicated to honouring the many losses our communities have and continue to move through. As we retuned to our homes we were confronted with fresh, unimaginable grief, grief now carried by the Australian Jewish community, by families, and by our nation.

We stand in solidarity with the Australian Jewish community. The loss being carried right now, by families, by community, and by our nation is profound. There is no place for violence, hatred or harm in our communities.

In moments like this, unity and compassion matter. They are not abstract ideas, they are lived through how we show up for one another, how we listen, how we check in, and how we refuse to let fear or division take hold.

If you are feeling shaken, overwhelmed or grieving:
•Slow your breathing.
• Put your feet on the ground. Step outside if you can.
• Limit news exposure if it’s heightening distress.
• Reach out, to a friend, a neighbour, a community space, or a support service.

Hold your people a little closer. Let children know they are safe. Let elders know they are not alone.
If you or someone you love needs extra support:
• Griefline: 1300 845 745
• Lifeline: 13 11 14 (24/7)
• Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636

In this moment, may we choose care over cruelty, connection over fear, and solidarity over silence.

We stand with the Jewish community. We grieve together. And we hold one another, now and in the days ahead.

14/12/2025

Gentle reminder for this afternoon …
As the sun sets over Burleigh, we’ll gather by the water to honour the many kinds of loss that shape our lives: loved ones, places, identity, connection, and the ways of being we’ve had to let go.

This simple community ceremony is a space to pause, breathe, remember, and renew. Through shared ritual, story, and quiet reflection, we acknowledge both our grief and the strength that comes from standing together.
🗓 Sunday 14 December
⏰ 4:45 pm – 6:15 pm
📍 Echo Beach, Burleigh Headland (southern walking path entrance)

Bring a picnic rug, a flower or small meaningful object, and your open heart. Together we’ll create a living artwork of gratitude, love, and resilience as the tide moves in and out, a reminder that endings and beginnings are always intertwined.

All are welcome: families, carers, kids, individuals, and community members from near and afar. Whether your loss is recent or long ago, visible or unseen, this space is for you.

Held on the lands of the Yugambeh peoples, with deep respect for Elders past and present.

24/11/2025

Festival of Death and Dying is one of the most unique gatherings of community and compassionate deathcare practitioners I participate in. Curated with so much integrity by Peter Banki and Victoria Spence of Life Rites Funerals, the Festival places somatic practice at its centre, something too often missing in collective spaces.

Here, embodiment isn’t an “add-on”, it is the method. It’s what allows grief, memory, connection and community to move, transform and settle in the body.

I’m grateful to Peter for welcoming us so openly and guiding us through the Five Remembrances, a profound reminder of balancing wisdom and compassion, the impermanence of our lives and allowing the body to breathe at the pace life rarely makes room for.

There were many highlights:
• Kopi Healing with Maree Clarke and Nicholas Hovington, a powerful, embodied ritual of shaping grief into clay and learning the deep mourning traditions of South Eastern Aboriginal communities.

• Home Funeral wisdom with Rebecca Lyons and Before & After Life - Emma Beattie, opening conversations on reclaiming community-held care for our dying and dead.

• The Village, an extraordinary evening of performance, testimony, movement, art and music that re-awakened our sense of shared responsibility.

• Worn Grief with Pia Interlandi, Maree Clarke and Hini Hanara invited us into intimate, creative ways of wearing and honouring loss.

Rhee Duthie and I shared experience, learning and tools from many years in community development and from those who have paved the way before us, reminding participants that Compassionte Communities along with community development is never a program delivered to a community, but a process built with them. We explored the Building Compassionate Communities in Australia Toolkit, ABCD practices, the Good Life Conversation, We Can Game resources, and Inverclyde principles to map strengths and spark the “one action in 30 days” compassion movement.

Throughout the Festival, the Remembrance and Mourning Installation created by the Muslim Collective with Sydney Friends of Standing Together held space to witness the grief of Palestinians, an essential reminder of how somatic, collective grieving becomes a political, communal and spiritual act when the usual frames of mourning are shattered.

Deep gratitude to Peter and Victoria for curating such a richly embodied, culturally grounded and community-held gathering. This Festival shows that when we bring somatics, culture, ritual and community development together, grief is not something to survive, it is something we can meet, move, honour and transform together. Compassionate Communities Australia

29/10/2025

A very critical conversation with the imminent aged care reforms coming in. The number of ageing Australians who simply won’t have the income to meet the increases in co-contributions for essential services and care is deeply concerning. Collectively finding solutions to this impending crisis must start now. Register to be part of the discussion.

Sweeping changes are coming to residential aged care with the introduction of the Aged Care Act 2024 on 1 November. At Compassionate Communities Australia, we welcome reforms that strengthen rights and transparency — but we also ask: will these changes translate into genuine relational care — where our older people are seen, valued, and cared ‘about’, not just cared ‘for’?

Join us for an engaging panel discussion exploring how policy reform meets human experience. Together, we’ll unpack what the new Aged Care Act could mean for everyday relationships between residents, their families, care staff, and communities — and how we can ensure compassion remains the foundation of the system.

This conversation builds on insights from our National Forum in Brisbane and the Residential Aged Care Advocacy Statement , which calls for a re-orientation from clinical models to community-connected care that restores dignity and belonging. It also builds on the 2025 Progress Report of Inspector General of Aged Care.

You can egsiter here - bit.ly/47mVnb8

27/10/2025

In Western culture, we’re taught to fear, fight, or hide death. But what if we looked at it differently? What if, by facing mortality, we found life itself becoming deeper and more meaningful?

Join me and Rhee Duthie at the Festival of Death and Dying in Sydney, 22–23 November at Rushcutters Bay, a beautiful weekend of workshops, talks, and ceremonies exploring how we live, die, grieve, and care for one another.

We’ll be holding a participatory workshop on Compassionate Communities alongside, focused on what community development is and inviting reflection on how we can collectively reimagine care, connection, and community around death, dying, loss, and grief.

Get your tickets and explore the full program here: https://deathfest.sydney

Festival Director: Peter Banki, Ph.D
Curatorial Advisor and Festival Dramaturgy: Victoria Spence Festival of Death and Dying Life Rites Funerals Compassionate Communities Australia Dying to Know

A two day festival of workshops, performances and talks on different aspects of death and dying.

17/10/2025

Thank you to Life Rites Funerals Zenith Virago- Doing Death Well Tender Funerals Mid North Coast for your ongoing support in Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation creating cultural safe, Survivor, descendant and community led end community & home death care program 🙏🏽

Join us on Thursday 30th and Friday 31st October for two days of hands on learning on how to care for our families and friends at end of life.

End of life is a difficult time for many of us, especially with ongoing Sorry Business. KBHAC has developed the Reclaiming Community and Home Death Care Program with Life Rites and the support of Zenith Virago and Tender Funerals. Join us for a special few days of learning and sharing how we can support each other in physical, spiritual, cultural and emotional ways as those we care for approach their journey into the dreaming.

More details below. Please rsvp below if you’d like to join

14/09/2025

What a week! The Compassionate Communities Australia Forum and Dying to Know Dinner with Mama Saba set the scene for community at the heart of conversations and action. As You n' Taboo has rightly stated, many have paved the way, reminding us that our collective work is built on decades of dedication, courage, and care.

A central highlight at for me was the lived experience leadership shared by Jodie Clarkson, who reminded us of the deep equity and communication challenges in healthcare. As she powerfully noted, “Interpreters are a bridge between languages and cultures… everyone has a right to be linguistically present, to fully understand what’s happening to them, to fully express themselves.’’

Jodie’s call powerfully underscored that compassionate care must be grounded in culturally safe language and a steadfast commitment to human rights. As someone receiving palliative care, her courage, storytelling, and wisdom were not only moving, they were a profound privilege to witness.

The gathering also strengthened the case for a public health palliative care approach and Compassionate Communities, where care extends beyond hospitals into networks of families, neighbours, and civic life.
We were invited into the depth of storytelling:
• Professor Brian Dolan reminded us that “care will always be more important than cure… mortality remains at 100%” and reframed hospital time as “days away from home,” urging us to focus on dignity, humanity, and legacy.

• Chris Hall moved us with love stories of grief, showing how families oscillate between knowing and hoping: “Death ends a life, it doesn’t end a relationship”
His words affirmed that grief is not an enemy of care, but its companion.

Through these voices, the gathering affirmed the centrality of storytelling, compassion, and equity in shaping the future of palliative care.

Heartfelt thanks to Dr Joanne Doran for being the glue that brings compassion, humanness, and joy into spaces that are often heavy.

New friends were made and old connections energised. Shout out to the wonderful PCA consumer and carer panel members, with special acknowledgment to PCA fellow carer and consumer panel members Debra Letica and Shannon Calvert, who reminded us of the urgent need for lived experience leadership and co-creation in shaping services and Simon’s skilful hosting. Thank you to PCA for your support and the efforts of all organisers. PCQ the Jacaranda was incredible! Thank you to the compassionate community that supported me in caring for our daughter while being present, the juggle is real.

We are stronger together, and must continue to authentically collaborate, evolving systems and processes so they meet the needs of all, especially those most often pushed to the margins. By grounding care in equity, presence, and humanity, we can ensure that every community is included and supported with compassion.

11/08/2025

🧡Love, Loss & What Matters Most 💛

This year’s Before You Go – Dying to Know Day on the Gold Coast was more than a beautiful event, it was the result of years of slow, steady, often unseen community building. Hours of relationship-building, trust-guiding, and collaboration have created a strong foundation where supporters are now investing their time and resources, and for that, we’re so grateful.

We breathed together with Caroline Brunne and Louie the Therapy Dog, then journeyed through the end-of-life rituals of Sikh, Hindu, Māori, and Buddhist traditions — sharing stories, art, music, and creating space for difficult conversations.

We also want to acknowledge the “village” who made it possible: our venue Currumbin RSL, plus those who provided welcome, catering, face painting, arts & crafts, breathwork, cyanotype, sound healing, and generous staff time.

Grassroots community movements take time, investment, and genuine collaboration. Over the past three years, we’ve built a space where community and service providers come together to create real change.

If you feel called to join this small but growing movement, reach out. We’d love to welcome you.

Thank you: Amanda McClelland Amardeep Singh Carol Peach Caroline Tremayne Carla P. Sabrina Cleghorn Katherine Richards Rhee Duthie Joanne Doran Emma Beattie Gina Connolly Annie McGrath Anna DeVoigt supported by:
Currumbin RSL | Multicultural Communities Council Gold Coast Ltd.| Karuna Hospice Services Ltd | Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service| Gold Coast Primary Health Network | Dovida Australia | Volunteering Queensland | Proveda |Before & After Life | Kindness Company