CAF civics education workshops reach more than 1,000 participantsacross four states

Nov 29, 2025
2 min read

Sydney, 28 November 2025 – The Chinese Australian Forum (CAF) has released new survey findings from its 2024–25 Civics Education workshops, showing strong gains in civic knowledge and media literacy among Chinese Australian community members who attended across four states.

At a presentation and dinner held on 28 November at Zilver Restaurant in Chatswood, CAF President Mr Simon Chan AM welcomed about 45 guests, including local councillors, academics, community leaders and media representatives. Speakers included Mr Gary Cowan, CEO of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations (NFACR); Dr Jennifer Hsu, Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW); Mr Jon-Claire Lee, Secretary of CAF; and Mr Tony Pang OAM, Vice President of CAF.

Guests also included local councillors Cr Cedric Spencer (Ku-ring-gai Council), Cr Michelle Chuang (Willoughby City Council) and Cr Ben Wang (Georges River Council), along with community and business leaders Mr Vincent Lim, President of the Haymarket Chamber of Commerce; Ms Joey Chan, President of the Eastwood Senior Citizens Club; Mr Hasan Sowaid, Regional Director for NSW/ACT, Home Affairs; Mr Yutong Ding, Deputy Chief of Staff, UNICEF; and Mr Charles Chen, Deputy Mayor, Parramatta Council.

Opening the event, Mr Simon Chan AM said the Civics Workshop program was created to help Chinese Australian communities better understand Australia’s democratic system, with CAF and NFACR working together over the past year to deliver civics and media literacy workshops in multiple states.

Speaking on behalf of NFACR, Mr Gary Cowan said the Foundation’s work focuses on strengthening Australia–China engagement and supporting social cohesion in Australia, and that the “CAF civics program is a practical example of those goals in action at the community level.”

Presenting the survey report, Dr Jennifer Hsu said that between September 2024 and May 2025, CAF delivered 13 Civics Education workshops across NSW, SA, VIC and WA, reaching 1,069 participants and recording survey responses from around three-quarters of attendees.

More than 90 per cent of respondents said they now feel confident identifying misinformation, disinformation and media bias. Participants highlighted the need for more Chinese Australians in leadership and decision-making roles, fairer media coverage, more multilingual resources and stronger government engagement.

Mr Jon-Claire Lee introduced three new CAF civics promotion videos, produced to support the program and tailored for different audiences and platforms.

Closing the event, Mr Tony Pang OAM said CAF would continue to promote civics education, expand the use of multilingual resources and strengthen cross-state partnerships.