Page 1840 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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In partnership with the ACT Multicultural Advisory Council, we organised several public community consultation round tables. Initially, four round tables were held in September 2018 to explore the three objectives of the ACT multicultural framework: accessible and responsive services; citizenship; participation and cohesion; and capitalising on the benefit of cultural diversity. Due to popular demand, an additional two round tables were held in October 2018. I am very pleased that over 170 people from across Canberra, representing community groups and local organisations, attended the round tables, contributing their voices and their stories.
During the consultation, attendees were able to provide their views on how we can better develop the Canberra of the future, a Canberra that continues to capitalise on the benefits we all receive from our shared diversity. This early community engagement allowed us to identify and develop outcomes to strengthen the social, cultural and economic participation of culturally and linguistically diverse people, enhance social cohesion, improve access to services and ensure that culturally and linguistically diverse young people are also engaged and feel valued.
We continued the conversation at the 2018 ACT Multicultural Summit, held on 23 November last year. Invitations to the summit were sent to around 179 people, representing 108 organisations from across Canberra. The summit explored the same themes as the round tables and provided an important opportunity to further understand potential barriers being faced by Canberrans and how we as a government can create a truly inclusive city.
The feedback received from these round tables and the summit was used by the ACT Multicultural Advisory Council to help shape and identify actions and outcomes to inform the development of the second action plan. The draft plan was presented by the council to the community at the National Multicultural Festival and at two further consultation sessions on 26 and 28 February 2019. This extensive consultation period has resulted in the multicultural framework second action plan, which I am pleased to bring to the Assembly today.
The second action plan extends the previous work under the framework and contains meaningful outcomes to further improve the lives of Canberrans from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. I am pleased to note that the community’s voice is reflected in the actions in this plan. The actions will be delivered in 2019 and 2020 to complete the framework.
One of the key actions in the action plan is to respond to our recent commitment to join the Welcoming Cities network, allowing us to benchmark our current services and identify areas where we may need to improve. We have also committed to continuing to improve access to information for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, to support the promotion of information that combats unconscious bias in recruitment, and to engage multicultural community members in leadership programs.
Women from diverse backgrounds play an important role in our city. This action plan recognises that women provide unique insight into community issues. The
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