The members of the CSA Oceania wish all fellow-Swiss and friends of Switzerland a wonderful Festive Season with lots of happy moments to share with your loved ones. It is of special importance this Christmas as many of us experienced challenging times that kept us apart from friends and family. We also hope that the New Year will bring the world more joy, happiness and peace than the one we leave behind.

2021 will be an election year for the Council of the Swiss Abroad and your delegates will stand for election for another four-year term. In 2017, for the first time ever, the elections in Australia were conducted electronically, but due to the cancellation of e-voting by the Federal Government in Switzerland, this option will not be available this time. Instead the election will be by postal ballot and will be conducted by the ‘Swiss Alliance Australia Inc.’ – the newly established umbrella organisation of Swiss associations in Australia. A call for interested candidates to stand for election and explanation of the election process will be published in edition 1/21 of the ‘Swiss Review – Regional News Oceania’ which will appear in early February. The delegates for New Zealand will be elected at the AGM of the ‘Swiss Society of New Zealand’.

Best wishes and kind regards from you delegates to the Council of the Swiss Abroad – we are always here for you.

Carmen Trochsler (SA)
Roland Isler (VIC)
Beat Knoblauch (NSW)
Katja Wallimann Gates (QLD)
Peter Ehrler (NZ)