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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3803 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

a great asset to our city. Business migrants, in particular, generate employment and investment opportunities in the Territory. Canberra's migration strategy, A Step into the Future, is designed to encourage migration to the ACT, especially by business migrants. We see the contributions of these migrants as essential to our economic growth.

The Government is committed to ensuring that migrants settle successfully in our city and feel that they belong to our community. We have invested a great deal of resources in the past year to ensure that this occurs. It is, therefore, important to reject views that imply or provoke racial division in our community. Racism in any form is unacceptable in a democratic country like Australia, or in any State or Territory. In fact, in an educated community such as Canberra there is no place for racism, let alone any racist behaviour. I believe that this motion will send a strong signal to those in our community who may think it is right to engage in racist behaviour in the streets, in the playgrounds or in any other places for that matter, Mr Speaker. In the context of free speech, we must be mindful not to contribute to intolerance. It is, therefore, incumbent upon us all to share in the responsibility of enhancing a tolerant community.

Recent reports indicate an upsurge in racially motivated attacks on members of Canberra's Asian communities. This is simply unacceptable, Mr Speaker. I am sure everybody in this Assembly and, hopefully, everyone in Canberra believes that, too. In response, the Office of Ethnic and Multicultural Affairs, in conjunction with Canberra's Asian community groups, has developed a campaign which includes the implementation of an anti-racist policy within ACT schools to be implemented in early 1997, development of a media campaign involving prominent Canberrans from business, the community and politics to highlight the benefits of multiculturalism, and contact with counselling services to ensure that victims of racial abuse can find help. We owe it to our young people and the next generation of Canberrans to maintain a culturally harmonious community, free from discrimination and intimidation, and to be respectful of each other's cultural backgrounds. A multicultural society where people are free to reach their full potential, unhindered by prejudice and ignorance, is our bridge to a peaceful and prosperous future.

This motion also says something about our attitude towards the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia in the ACT. There is no doubt that we need to find solutions to the special needs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly in the areas of health and education. I will be talking at greater length about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues and reconciliation in the December sittings, when I table the 1995-96 report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. There will be an opportunity at that time to also re-endorse the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation's vision that we originally endorsed as a vision shared by this Assembly in April 1994. Mr Speaker, I therefore call upon all members of this Assembly to join me in supporting this motion on Aboriginal reconciliation and multiculturalism, and in particular to demonstrate our support, our unanimous support, for the ACT's multicultural community.

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