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Auslan ABC News Update

21 December 2020

Video transcript:

Hello everyone, my name is Nicky Long and I am the Expression Australia CEO.

Since I commenced in November, I have met a number of Deaf community members. Thank you for your warm welcome.

It wasn’t possible to have Christmas Rally this year, but we hope to have a community event early in 2021, where I look forward to meeting even more people.

2020 has been a difficult year, first with the bushfires and now with Covid. Expression Australia staff have worked very hard to continue to provide services and access to important information. We have provided critical access to information in Auslan through our work with the ABC, Auslan updates and ensuring interpreters at government announcements.

This year, we have worked on:

  • 39 Auslan ABC News bulletins,
  • 208 Auslan Update videos; and
  • 410 press conferences across Victoria and Tasmania.

During January we will be giving our ABC staff a well-earned break, so the Sunday Auslan Interpreted news and deaf presented segment will be pausing. Our Expression Australia Auslan news updates will continue on our social media channels during this time.

I would like to thank the Auslan news team and all the people behind the scenes who supported the ABC news in 2020. The ABC directors, content coordinators, translators, Deaf Community subject matter experts, Deaf presenters and language consultants, we thank you. A special thank you to Brent Phillips and Michael Reid (from the ABC) for working hard to get this initiative off the ground.

We look forward to keeping you informed in 2021.

I wish you all and your families a happy and healthy 2021.