The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) today welcomes Labor’s suite of multicultural policy announcements.
Labor’s proposed multicultural framework review is urgently needed to maintain Australia’s multicultural legacy and to build a strong future where everyone can belong and thrive equally. As proposed in our 2022 Policy Platform, FECCA believes this would be best achieved through establishing an Office for Multicultural Australia that would ensure a coordinated and cohesive whole-of-government approach to multicultural policy.
FECCA’s CEO, Mohammad Al-Khafaji, said, “FECCA and its members look forward to being a part of any future review of Australia’s multicultural framework. Australia must move beyond the piece-meal approach of the past to avoid serious social, economic and health consequences for multicultural communities.”
FECCA also welcomes the announcement regarding CALD data collection, a strategy for digital inclusion, and frontline multilingual staff. Each of these areas are addressed in detail in FECCA’s 2022 Policy Platform and we are pleased these recommendations are adopted.
Mr. Al-Khafaji said, “Better data collection of Australia’s cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity is an essential step in ensuring policy and practice design meets the needs of our multicultural population.”
“Online information and services provide exciting benefits and opportunities, but more must be done to ensure people are not left behind. FECCA believes an extensive digital literacy program must be implemented to ensure effective and equitable communication for multicultural people, their families, and carers.
“Increasing multilingual frontline staff provides so many benefits, not just to be able to interpret information but also provide culturally appropriate support. It is important that we ensure more culturally diverse staff are at all levels of government services, agencies, and departments. We want to see multicultural and multilingual people making decisions and designing services, as well as delivering them.”
For over 40 years, FECCA has worked with both Coalition and Labor governments to help build an Australia where everyone, no matter their background or how long they have lived in this country, can belong equally and without barriers. This election FECCA calls on all parties to invest more in advancing multicultural Australia.
