Page 3187 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 October 2022
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that we were not surprised—in fact, we very much welcomed what was reflected in the ACT census—that this is a community that is increasingly diverse. It speaks volumes about our city and its welcoming nature. I commend all those across our city who work so hard to make that a reality.
Our budget processes and allocations consider determining factors, such as promotion, participation and equality and access. As well, they evaluate the effectiveness of previous initiatives through our wellbeing framework. Through this budget, we are continuing to deliver across a range of initiatives. I am honestly quite surprised that Mr Cain expressed his disappointment in the budget. It seems that he does not realise the full extent of the initiatives available to the multicultural community. That includes delivery of the National Multicultural Festival in its 25th anniversary year; significant investment in our community language schools; support for our refugee and asylum seeker community, including delivering enhancements to the ACT services access card and coordination of the Refugee, Asylum Seekers and Humanitarian Coordination Committee; provision of initiatives such as the work experience and support program; and work towards Canberra achieving the advanced level accreditation as a welcoming city in the Welcoming Cities standard.
One of the ways in which we measure our efforts to support and progress a welcoming and culturally and linguistically inclusive Canberra is through the annual Canberra omnibus survey. Figures provided by CSD from the omnibus survey show that the vast proportion of Canberrans agree that Canberra is a community which accepts people from different cultures. This is an indication of the government’s success in contributing to this objective through its role in the provision of human services initiatives, policies and programs which ensure social inclusion, and community connection for all.
What is essential is that we continue to invest in social services and programs which promote and provide opportunities for participation and inclusion for all Canberrans, and that these are designed to reflect the diverse cultures and languages spoken by Canberrans. The ACT government, through CSD, is determined to ensure that we deliver on our commitments to the Canberra community. For example, we are preparing for the return of the annual National Multicultural Festival in February 2023 after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions. There is growing community expectation and anticipation of the event, which will open opportunities to share and promote the cultures of existing, new, and emerging groups. As well, it will provide opportunities for these groups to fundraise and reunite after an extended period of absence as a result of the pandemic. Increased funding for the festival through this budget, will ensure that next February’s festival is fitting of its 25th anniversary milestone. I stress that the only person who is confused about the appropriation for the Multicultural Festival is Mr Cain.
Another key commitment we are funding is increased investment in our growing community language school sector. This will see funding committed to the professional development of the many volunteer community language teachers, support for the hire of venues to enable community language schools to operate, and funding for the establishment of new language schools and teaching resources. This budget shows our commitment to a strategic, holistic approach to funding Canberra’s culturally and linguistically diverse community, and our commitment to deliver on the
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