Our caring hands welcome diversity and Australian pride 

For Southcarer Arif, who was born in Malaysia, it was always fated that he would one day become an Australian citizen, and that day was this Australia Day, 26 January 2024, a decade after he first arrived on our sunny shores. 

Arif’s grandfather built a home in Hillarys in 1998 for his family to use when studying here in WA and while Arif was then too young to study and eventually the house sold when his grandfather passed away in 2004, the idea was borne in Arif’s mind. 

He came to Perth in 2014 and studied at Canning College before completing his degree at Curtin University in 2018, graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration. 

“The following year I joined Southcare as a volunteer and after a few short months was offered and accepted a permanent role.  I haven’t looked back since,” he says. 

Arif applied for permanent residency during the COVID-19 pandemic, and shortly after set about preparing his citizenship application. 

“Once I became a permanent resident, I decided the natural progression was to become an Australian citizen and to achieve that 10 years after first arriving feels like a wonderful achievement,” he says. 

“I am well aware that Australia is called the lucky country – I am very lucky to live here and work for a great company in a role where I feel I make a real difference to our customer’s lives.” 

Arif is part of Southcare’s Projects and Business Improvements department which manages systems and provides online solutions for our team of support workers and our customers which has seen him win a number of awards along the way. 

Southcare’s policy of diversity and inclusion is reflected in our diverse employee and volunteer team, with many Southcarers working with us from other countries, and helping our customers who all have diverse backgrounds too. 

Congratulations Arif – our caring hands are now saying “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Arif, Arif, Arif”!