LABOR RELEASES MULTICULTURAL ENGAGEMENT TASKFORCE REPORT

ANDREW GILES MP.
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3 years ago
LABOR RELEASES MULTICULTURAL ENGAGEMENT TASKFORCE REPORT
ANDREW GILES MP
Federal Labor Leader Anthony Albanese, alongside Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles, the Chair of the Labor’s Multicultural Taskforce, Peter Khalil, and Secretary Anne Stanley, launched Labor’s Multicultural Engagement Taskforce (LMET) report today.

The Taskforce was formed in late 2019 and engaged with multicultural stakeholders and community leaders across Australia for over 18 months and received more than 60 submissions to help inform how policies and services for Australia’s multicultural communities could be improved.

The report has put forward a number of policy recommendations for how a future Labor government would improveCultural and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities access to government services and provide greater support to migrant-owned businesses.

Peter Khalil said: “The report we’ve launched today is an important step in building a more representative Australia, where people of diverse backgrounds feel as though no door is closed to them.”

“Migrants to Australia make a huge contribution to our communities and economy, with migrants twice as likely to start a business, and a third of small businesses owned by those born overseas. 

“Even with this success in the business world, there are still structural barriers to Australians of diverse ethnic backgrounds across many other sectors of the economy. 

One of the report’s recommendations is to consider establish a CALD focussed New Enterprise Incentive Scheme to support new migrants in setting up small businesses. The recommendations also focus on improving access through better translation services across the whole-of-government and tailoring digital government services for CALD communities.

Andrew Giles MP said: “The work of the Taskforce, so ably led by Peter Khalil and Anne Stanley, has highlighted the particular impacts of the pandemic on migrant, and CALD communities, engaged a wide range of perspectives and identified both some key failings of the Morrison government and important policy ideas for Labor”

This report and the voices that have shaped it will help people engage fully in the political, economic and social life of our country and ensure Labor is always listening to, and representing the concerns of multicultural Australia.