Jasmina Baryaktaravitch Hayward has been elected as new president of the Refugee Council of Australia, the first time the position has been held by a refugee in the council’s forty year history.
Ms Baryaktaravitch Hayward immigrated to Australia from Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1993 during the Bosnian war, and was placed at risk as a child of mixed-ethnicity parents.
She has outlined the impact her experience will have on her new position, in saying people of refugee backgrounds are the experts on their lived experiences, and can use this expertise to effectively design solutions to the challenges they have faced.