Page 779 - Week 02 - Thursday, 23 February 2012
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has picked up on this and is using this as her road map. I think it is well worth recognising.
Mr Doszpot should be congratulated on his ability to Google people and use Wikipedia to find out how many people in this town are worthy of a mention, instead of doing it straight off the top of his head. I thought it was almost akin to Alistair Coe’s diary, quite frankly. I did not think it actually achieved very much. There are so many people in the multicultural community that should be named but who do not get a mention; for example, Din Pla Hongsa, one of the leaders in the Mon community. Because these communities are small, they do not even get a mention in this place. We talk about the Greeks, we talk about the Italians, we talk about the French; they are essential parts of our multicultural community but, quite frankly, they are big enough to look after themselves. The smaller ones are not. The Bangladeshi community are not.
Mrs Dunne interjecting—
MR HARGREAVES: I hear the grumblings from Mrs Dunne. I note that she attempted to speak in Italian, which makes her bilingual. Good on her; it is the first time I have ever heard Mrs Dunne being involved in anything to do with the multicultural community since the day she got here, but I thought it was better late than never. I hope it was worth while. I hope people enjoyed themselves. I noticed that she claimed some credit for that particular function; but she was also three years late. I attended a function of the Ethnic Schools Association some two years ago and spoke in three languages in that speech. So Mrs Dunne is a language behind. She is also one minister behind and a language behind, so she does not impress me one zot in her commitment to multiculturalism. I think it is all puff.
Mr Hanson: You are a nasty piece of goods, John.
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Hanson, I do not hold a candle to you for venom and viciousness, but I am happy to start learning.
The work experience and support program is designed to help Canberrans from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds enter the workforce by providing an opportunity to improve skills and confidence, as well as develop important networks within the ACT public service. Successful graduates will receive national training qualifications in business and government.
This program is designed for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and aims to provide opportunities for participants to improve their IT, writing, office administration and communication skills, to gain practical job-seeking skills, to prepare them for entry into the workforce, to gain practical experience in an Australian workplace, to enhance their opportunities to access secure sustainable employment and to provide an opportunity to establish a personal network of contacts for future work and training options. I know how successful this has been in picking people up. It has been absolutely wonderful.
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