Go Equal made a submission on Multicultural Recognition Act for the Australian Capital Territory

In July 2022, Go Equal held a Consultation Session followed by a Submission on the Multicultural Recognition Act for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Multicultural Recognition Bill is a timely initiative by the ACT Government to recognise the cultural and linguistic diversity in the Australian community. It is an aspirational Bill that aims to promote social justice and social cohesion.

Recommendations:

  • A formal acknowledgment of existing inequities within the society on the basis of skin colour, culture, language, migration status, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. should be given in the Act.
  • The Act requires to acknowledge nuances/dividers within multicultural communities that cut across race, caste, religion, ethnicity, class, and the fact that multicultural communities are not homogeneous.
  • The Act should address the marginalised groups, such as women, youth, LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, and so on that shapes the power structures within the communities.
  • The Act should realistically give all Canberrans hope that they will be welcomed and treated equally as people with different resident statuses have different rights and entitlements.
  • The Act needs to address how the rule of law factors in and how the freedoms granted by the Act fall within the rule of law.
  • The Act needs to be clear that it should be implemented in a way that it will not interfere with or breach the rights and beliefs of an individual.
  • Multicultural Advisory Council’s role should include bringing marginalised and less powerful voices from multicultural communities forward.
  • The composition of the Multicultural Advisory Council should also reflect the diversity of voices and experiences within the multicultural community. The Act can go a step forward by requiring at least half of the council to be individual members rather than representatives of established councils or mainstream groups.

The ACT Government passed the Multiculturalism Bill 2022 on 9 February 2023.