Nyadol Nyuon, an outspoken refugee advocate and prominent lawyer in Australia, has launched a GoFundMe campaign seeking $150,000 for personal expenses as she prepares to leave the country in mid-2027. Born in an Ethiopian refugee camp and resettled in Australia at 18, Nyuon received multiple scholarships to complete her law degree from the University of Melbourne. Despite her contributions to refugee advocacy and receiving an Order of Australia Medal in 2022, she has expressed disillusionment with systemic racism and poor working conditions, leading her to plan her departure and renounce her citizenship.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Outspoken refugee advocate and prominent lawyer Nyadol Nyuon has launched a fundraiser requesting $150,000 to 'rest and recover' until she leaves Australia.
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Nyuon created the GoFundMe over the weekend ahead of her planned move out of Australia in mid-2027.
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The 39-year-old was born in an Ethiopian refugee camp in 1987 and moved to Australia at the age of 18 after her family fled civil war in Sudan.
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She received multiple scholarships and grants to complete her law studies at the University of Melbourne and in 2022 received the Order of Australia Medal for her advocacy work for refugees.
However, Nyuon earlier this year vowed to return her medal and renounce her Australian citizenship.
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Much of her disillusionment with Australia is tied to an $800,000 taxpayer-funded project she headed to help protect female diversity in workplaces.
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Nyuon resigned as director of Victoria University's Sir Zelman Cowen Centre in 2025, citing alleged systematic racism, poor working conditions and mental fatigue.
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In her GoFundMe post on Saturday, Nyuon said she needed the $150,000 to help cover her mounting bills and future expenses.
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Outspoken refugee advocate and prominent lawyer Nyadol Nyuon (above) has sought to raise $150,000 ahead of her move out of Australia in mid-2027
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For almost two years, I have been unable to work.
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I have been the sole income earner in my household and my paid work supported both my household and the public work many people know me for,' she wrote.
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'I am exhausted, managing depression and trying to make space for recovery.
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My bills have accumulated, my mortgage is in arrears and I cannot currently afford car insurance.
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I am asking for $150,000 to help me meet essential costs and remain in Australia through to mid-2027 while I focus on recovery.
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I → ask → recovery
This support would give me some stability at a time when I have very little left to draw on.
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Nyuon decided to create the fundraiser after receiving encouragement from her friends and wrestling with 'pride and embarrassment'.
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While she was head of the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre, it had been contracted by WorkSafe Victoria to manage its WorkWell Respect Network.
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Nyuon later slammed both Victoria University and WorkSafe Victoria in a series of online posts.
She claimed the agencies were 'racist' and used her as 'corporate blackface' which exposed her to 'sustained psychological and emotional assault'.
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Nyuon studied at the University of Melbourne via multiple scholarships
'I went through an experience in which institutions that categorise themselves as woke, call themselves people who really believe in diversity, conducted themselves in a way that was so harmful it broke my faith to stay here,' she told ABC National Forum last month.
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It's easy for people to think I have made a decision out of anger.
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Both institutions have indirectly denied her allegations.
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Nyuon received mixed responses to her appearance on the ABC's National Immigration Forum last month after stating she had 'no intention of assimilating' with Australians and losing her own cultural identity.
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Before the European settlement, there were Indigenous people who spoke multiple languages and considered themselves to be people of different nations,' she said.
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'Then there was the immigration post WWII, those were also a diverse number of people.
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'If we start talking about terms like Anglo-Celtic and stuff, it creates this idea that there is some form of white culture that exists somewhere that can be recreated here in Australia.
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There is Italian culture, there's French culture, but there is not this notion of sort of a a white culture that is being threatened.'
She clashed with former deputy prime minister John Anderson on the ABC national immigration forum last month
Nyuon's GoFundMe post suggested she is still in discussions with Victoria University and WorkSafe Victoria.
'I have also been involved in a lengthy process seeking review of a difficult professional matter,' she wrote.
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she → be → matter
'I'm keeping the details private while that process continues.
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It has taken a significant emotional and financial toll.'
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The lawyer said $50,000 from the fundraiser would go towards her 'mortgage arrears, overdue household bills and utilities and car insurance' while $100,000 would aid with 'essential living costs through to mid-2027'.
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100,000 → say → mid-2027
Nyuon changed the fundraiser's goal to $30,000 on Monday night.
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At that time, more than $5,800 had been raised.
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The Aporia
