Are you a student or graduate from a university, university of applied arts and sciences, a teacher training college or a qualified teacher seeking experience? 

The exchange-programs offered by Movetia gives young students and graduates from abroad the opportunity to work as language teaching assistants in Swiss grammar schools, vocational schools and vocational baccalaureate schools. As native speakers, they bring a unique richness to the teaching of languages, as well as exemplifying cultural aspects of their country of origin. 

The program is for young Swiss Abroad who were either born in a country where English, German, French, Spanish or Italian is the official national language or have lived there from the age of four. The paid position begins after the summer holidays and usually lasts a whole school year. The deadline for applications for the school year 2020/21 is 13 March. For further information and registration, please see the website.

The team of the Consulate General in Sydney will be visiting Brisbane QLD from 24 April to 1 May 2020 with the mobile passport station.

Provided enough interest is received, Cairns QLD will also be visited during this time. 

Registered citizens in QLD, NT and northern NSW will be contacted by email or letter two months prior to the visit with detailed information regarding dates, venues and procedures. Please ensure that the Consulate General has your up-to-date personal data and email address.

The Consulate General aims to provide this service to its compatriots rotating the locations, servicing each capital city on a regular basis.

Saturday, 5 October saw the ‘Young Swiss Citizen Celebration’ being held for the fourth time in Melbourne. 13 young Swiss who recently celebrated their 18th birthday, and thus became fully-fletched Swiss citizens, followed the invitation by the Hon. Consul, Manuela Erb, to a luncheon at the Swiss Club of Victoria. They were accompanied by families and friends.

Switzerland is a success story, but it will have to evolve under fast changing international conditions. Therefore, foreign policy will become more important for Switzerland’s prosperity and security. Starting from these reflections, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis established the AVIS28 working group in 2018 with the aim to define a coherent and adaptive foreign policy vision for Switzerland for 2028. AVIS28 is a source of inspiration and new ideas, and at the same time, it should initiate a broad discussion on the future of Swiss foreign policy. Switzerland needs the courage to change. Its foreign policy must become more focused, networked and agile. Switzerland should also work more closely with like-minded states, like Australia and New Zealand, towards their common goals.

From 13 April to 29 September 2019, the Swiss Abroad will be featured in the Swiss History Forum in Schwyz as part of the exhibition ‘Switzerland elsewhere’.

Saturday, 15 September saw the ‘Young Swiss Citizen Celebration’ being held for the third time in Victoria. 15 young Swiss who recently celebrated their 18th birthday, and therefore have become fully-fletched Swiss citizens with all the rights and obligations that this entails, followed the invitation by the Hon. Consul, Manuela Erb, to a luncheon at the Swiss Club of Victoria. They were accompanied by their mums and dads, grandparents and brothers and sisters.

Members of the Council of the Swiss Abroad meeting in the town of Visp on Friday, 10 August approved plans to launch an online petition calling for the introduction of e-voting over the next three years. Oceania was represented at the meeting by Katja Wallimann Gates and Beat Knoblauch (pictured), Peter Ehrler and Peter Canziani.

OSA PRESS RELEASE: Bern, 28 June 2018 – The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) welcomes the Federal Council’s decision to commission the Federal Chancellery with the preparation of a project that makes e-voting a regular voting option. This decision represents a significant step forward in the introduction of e-voting and recognises it as a safe and reliable option. For Swiss Abroad, this e-voting is often the only way to exercise their political rights.

The legislative body of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), the Council of the Swiss Abroad (CSA), met for its biennial meeting at the town hall in Bern on 10 March 2018.

The meeting followed on an informal exchange with Swiss parliamentarians on Thursday afternoon where a first update on the political issues with relevance for the Swiss Abroad was given.

The islands of Tonga in the South Pacific have been devastated by Tropical Cyclone Gita. Winds of 230km/h have flattened parts of Parliament House and caused significant damage and injuries across the kingdom, which is made up on 176 islands, though only 40 are inhabited. Thankfully, no reports of causalities have been received. Australia and New Zealand have already dispatched emergency supplies. 

The Consulate General of Switzerland in Sydney informs that it plans to visit the following cities with the mobile passport station:

• Brisbane (second half of May – early  June)

• Mackay (second half of May – early  June)

• Cairns (second half of May)

• Darwin (second half of May)

OSA PRESS RELEASE: Bern, 3 November 2017 – The federal referendum ‘Yes to the abolition of radio and television fees (abolition of Billag fees)’ intents to abolish the reception fees for licensed radio and television broadcasters with a public service obligation. The Federal Council is of the opinion that Switzerland needs a comprehensive public service in the media sector and that it cannot be financed exclusively on a commercial basis. It therefore rejects the initiative.

The Executive Board of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), like Parliament and the Federal Council, opposes the initiative, which will be voted on 4 March 2018. Public services in the information sector are of the utmost importance for Swiss Abroad.

OSA PRESS RELEASE: Bern, 25 October 2017 – On Tuesday, 24 October, the governors and state secretaries of the Swiss cantons have received a letter signed by ten federal parliamentarians from the most important political parties, demanding that all Swiss Abroad be able to choose their National Councillors in the 2019 Swiss Federal Elections. The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), which has been working for years to ensure that the Swiss Abroad are able to use this voting channel, is delighted about this initiative and fully supports it.