Page 108 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2006
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degrading way; the right to protection of our families and children. We also have the right to privacy; the right to personal freedoms and movement, thought and religion; the right to participation in public life; the right not to be arbitrarily arrested and detained; the right to a fair trial; the right to be free from forced work; and the right for minority groups to freely enjoy their culture and practice and to profess their own religion and use their own language. With our city’s flourishing and vibrant multicultural community, this last right in the Human Rights Act is particularly important.
I, as minister responsible for multicultural affairs and as a member of this government, recognise, value and am committed to furthering our cultural diversity. To achieve this, I place myself on the frontline with the community—an open and accountable approach I much prefer. By communicating directly I can observe for myself the wonderful contributions and, very importantly, concerns those in our multicultural community make and have. Since taking over this portfolio, I have set out to meet as many members of the multicultural groups as possible. I wanted to hear from the widest possible range of views, not just from a small advisory council.
Every person from every cultural and religious persuasion has a right to be heard and a right to communicate ideas and ideals to their government. This is exactly what has happened at the series of multicultural forums that I held last year. The six forums provided a wonderful insight for me. What I also found was that, for many members of the multicultural community, it was the first opportunity they had ever had to meet face to face with any minister responsible for multicultural affairs. As a result of this and many other factors, I am committed to continuing my direct contact with the multicultural community.
This goes to paragraph 2 (b) in amendment 2. The advisory council has been replaced by multicultural forums. It is a better engagement policy. The engaging nature of this contact and the understanding that comes with it are of immense benefit to me as minister and, I deeply believe, to the members of the multicultural community.
Also during the forums, it was especially heartening to be able to meet with many of the smaller emerging communities who had experienced some of the barriers that come with not representing a large group. In particular, I had a wonderful exchange of ideas with members of the South Pacific Islander communities. Members whom I met with represented the interests of individuals of Fijian, New Zealander, Maori, Samoan, Solomon Islands and Tongan descent.
The issues we discussed included the incidence of drug and alcohol problems for their youth as well as unemployment. By being face to face with these members, we were able to talk openly about these issues and start the ball moving towards finding solutions or ways through the problems. In relation to the issue of unemployment, I was pleased to be able to convey to the group the possibility of promoting the government’s successful work experience and support program, WESP, within the South Pacific Islander communities as a problem met with a possible solution. When at these forums I also met with members of the Asian, African, Latin American, Spanish-speaking, subcontinent and European communities.
Then, on 10 December, I had the great privilege of opening the multicultural summit, one of the initiatives that I implemented in order to widen my circle of advice and
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