Ang Kalatas Volume IV April 2014 Issue | Page 6

06 FAEA elects new officers, donates to typhoon victims FAEA Inc. Executive Board for 2014-2015 L-R: Engrs: Tess Hall, Omar Camacho, Fred Clark, Cesar Bartolome, Ben Liquete, Jess Arranz and Ferdi Francisco. THE Filipino Australian Engineers Association (FAEA) elected recently its new set of officers at their annual general meeting. Cesar Bartolome was elected president with Ferdi Francisco as vice president. The FAEA at its AGM also approved a donation of $1,000 to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda which hit parts of Visayas late last year. The donation will be coursed through the Rotary Club of Penrith currentlyheaded by Tess Hall. Part of the donation came from the proceeds of the FAEA Christmas party held last December. “The FAEA donation will surely go a long way in helping our poor and suffering kababayans in Tacloban where the Rotary Club together with other community service organisations are doing re-construction work,” said Tess Hall. Other elected officers were secretary Tess Hall, treasurer Jess Arranz, PRO Fred Clark and directors Omar Camacho (immediate past president), Ben Liquete, Vic Pulmano, Efren Katague and Sonny Reyno. The FAEA was incorporated in THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 4 Number 7 | April 2014 NEWS Sydney in 1993 with the main objective of assisting in the recognition and acceptance of engineering qualifications and experience of Filipino engineers trained overseas and to help new Filipino migrant engineer members to become familiar with Australian engineering practices. The association accepts members coming from the Filipino Australian community whether practising engineering professionals or not and with any engineering discipline or degree. Membership enquiries may be sent to [email protected]. NOTICE OF REGISTRATION AND ELECTION ALL citizens of the Philippines abroad, who are not otherwise disqualified by law, at least eighteen (18) years of age on the day of the elections, and who are registered overseas voters, may vote for President, Vice-President, Senators and Party-List Representatives. For the May 9, 2016 elections, the filing of application for registration/certification shall be from May 6, 2014 (Philippine Time) to October 31, 2015 (Philippine Time).   For details, please contact the Philippine Consulate General in Sydney through Tel. No. (02) 92627377, Fax No. (02) 92627355, or Email: [email protected]. WELCOME to a regular TALKING HUMAN SERVICES RVICES column with Department of Human Services General Manager, Hank Jongen. Here you can find out important information Department of Human Services about the Australian General Manager Government Department of Human Services, which includes Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support. HANK JONGEN Lodge your tax returns IF you’re one of around 300,000 Family Tax Benefit recipients who haven’t yet lodged a tax return for the last financial year, time is running out. You may have received a letter from Centrelink last week, reminding you or your partner to lodge your tax return. If f you’ve received one of these letters, all you need to do is lodge your tax return for the 2012-13 financial year – the Australian Taxation Office will communicate the results to Centrelink. You must also tell Centrelink before 30 June if you did not have to lodge a tax return for the last financial year. If you don’t lodge a tax return or don’t let us know that you are not required to lodge one for the 2012-13 financial year, you may miss out on receiving your full Family Tax Benefit entitlements for that year, including the Family Tax Benefit supplements. The Express Plus Families smartphone app is the easiest way to tell Centrelink if you do not need to lodge, and to keep Centrelink updated about your circumstances. Unlike a phone line or a service centre, you can use the app 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which means it’s available whenever you are. You can learn more about how to lodge your tax return by visiting humanservices.gov.au/ taxnonlodgement. You can download Express Plus Families for Apple and Android devices from the Apple App store or through Google Play. For more information about online services and the department’s range of smartphone apps, visit humanservices.gov.au/expressplus and humanservices.gov.au/ online. Until next time, Hank Jongen Department of Human Services General Manager