Anne Uma George, QSM, and George Arulanantham, QSM, Auckland.
For services to the community. Mrs Anne Uma George has been the Coordinator of the Tamil Community Education Centre in Mt Roskill since 2003. She also co-ordinates the Auckland Refugee Community Coalition Women’s Group and counselling. She has been a board member of the Mt Roskill Community House Advisory Committee, the Vice Chairperson of the Auckland Refugee Community Coalition, a member of the Auckland Refugee Council, and a member of the Asian Social Service of New Zealand. She is currently on the Steering Group of the National Refugee Network, and an Advisory Board member of ‘REACT NOW’. She has helped to establish community playgroups to aid community integration. Mrs George has been a teacher in Auckland for more than 11 years.
For services to the Tamil community. Mr George Arulanantham has been President of the New Zealand Tamil Society and has worked to help Tamil refugees and migrants settle into New Zealand. He helped establish a school in Auckland for Tamil children. After his term as President of the New Zealand Tamil Society ended he worked to establish an umbrella organisation, the Consortium of Tamil Associations of New Zealand. He has kept links with Sri Lanka and organised for Tamil Members of Parliament to meet with New Zealand Members of Parliament to discuss human rights issues in Sri Lanka. In 2003 he formed a ‘Poonga’, or Tamil Community Education Centre, and continues to be a board member. He is an executive member of the Refugee Council and liaises with the Department of Labour's Immigration Service. Mr Arulanantham is a Justice of the Peace and in 2011 received the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards Certificate of Achievement in the Local Hero category.