Page 177 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2016
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My motion seeks to better acknowledge, appreciate and understand how multiculturalism and how people from many different cultures can add to and improve us as a city, a territory and a nation. I see there are two broad ways to expand and encourage our existing cultures here in Canberra as well as to welcome new cultural groups into our city. There is government-led policy and initiative being implemented all around Australia, such as English language classes for new migrants and arrivals and the sponsorship of multicultural events.
By providing English language classes, the government can open the door for new citizens, allowing them to function smoothly in our society and to access the benefits that Canberra has to offer. And by the government sponsoring multicultural events, such as this weekend’s festival in Canberra city, these old and new cultures are able to open a door for all Canberrans to see and know something about the wonderful and positive aspects of many people’s cultures.
The other government-led policies and initiatives in the multicultural space include grants for cultural associations to assist them staying strong and functional. By granting such cultural associations these funds, we as a society acknowledge the hard and often selfless work they put in for their communities and for the broader community each and every day and hopefully growing their capacity to do so. These grants can also help connect the representatives of existing or older cultural associations with the newer ones. This approach is important in maintaining the strength and success of our strong multicultural approach and understanding here in the ACT. However, it is not the only approach that can or should be taken.
An equally important element of our multicultural success is the community-led approach. The community-led approach is when we have neighbour-to-neighbour support and friendship built at the suburban level, both through members of longer standing multigenerational presence in our nation to newer arrivals. This approach is about every Canberran reaching out to those who might be different or new. The community-led approach is a practical way to bring new or long-established ethnicities, faiths and cultures into harmony around a common humanity.
This is not the first time I have told the chamber about my grandfather’s neighbour. When my grandfather in the 1950s bought his first house for his young family who arrived soon afterwards from Italy, he was a new Australian with limited English. He had an older gentleman next door called Mr Davies. Mr Davies was aware that my grandfather—my Nonno Giuseppe—had an old roof that was in danger of rust. Mr Davies leaned over the fence one day and said, “Joe, your roof needs painting and we’re going to paint it together.” Mr Davies was at the time in his 70s and my Nonno said to him, “I don’t have the money to pay for that now, Joe.” Joe said, “We’ll paint your roof and you can pay me back later.” So the next weekend Mr Davies turned up at the front door with paint, brushes and a ladder and they painted my grandpa’s roof.
These actions so moved my grandfather that it is still a part of our family story today. Mr Davies is a part of my Italian cultural side; he is a part of our family story of arrival here. Nonno and Mr Davies remained friends, and when Mr Davies became frail he gave my Nonno one of his prized possessions—his rifle, which Nonno owned
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