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National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia

National agenda initiatives

As part of the social justice dimension of the National Agenda the Government will introduce a range of further initiatives, some of which are outlined in other parts of the National Agenda dealing with human resources, community relations and communication.

In particular it will undertake a number of new measures to strengthen its Access and Equity Strategy with priority being given to health and community services, local government and consumer education.

  • The Commonwealth will strengthen its Access and Equity Strategy. It will:
-   widen the scope of the strategy from immigrants to all those who may face barriers of race, culture or language including Aboriginal people and Australian born children of non-English speaking background, with a continuing emphasis on the double disadvantage which may be faced by women;
-   extend Access and Equity principles to relevant programs funded by the Commonwealth through State and Local governments and community organisations;
-   increase public accountability by requiring Commonwealth departments and authorities to report on the implementation of Access and Equity in their Annual Reports;
-   refine and reinforce existing arrangements by requiring portfolios to produce a second round of three-year Access and Equity plans;
-   enhance performance assessment by developing Access and Equity indicators including the collection of appropriate data to be incorporated in program management and budgeting systems and in portfolio explanatory notes; and
-   consider incorporating Access and Equity requirements in legislation as part of the examination of a possible Multiculturalism Act.
  • The Community Services and Health portfolio, which is responsible for providing or financing a range of critical services for vulnerable groups in the community, will undertake a number of initiatives aimed at identifying and addressing barriers of language and culture which may limit access to its services:
-   in conjunction with the States, the Department will conduct an annual survey of clients of the Home and Community Care Program, which services the aged, in order to monitor and assess the ongoing level of participation of non-English speaking background and Aboriginal Australians;
-   the Department will undertake a targeted campaign to raise awareness of and encourage use of Community Services and Health programs among people from such backgrounds; and
-   the Australian institute of Health will undertake a major study of the health status and needs of Australians from non-English speaking backgrounds.

  • Additional resources will be provided to enable the Local Government Development Program to be expanded to include grants to help local councils plan and restructure their services, and develop new models of service provision, in order to address more effectively the needs of Australians disadvantaged by linguistic and cultural barriers.

  • In recognition of the need to improve services to immigrants and to enhance their access to them, the Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs has announced the introduction of the Migrant Access Projects Scheme (MAPS) which will promote pilot or demonstration projects aimed at improving the design, planning and coordination of services with immigrants' needs in mind. The Scheme will also fund smaller, self-help projects among ethnic communities.

  • Recognizing that Australians with limited or no proficiency in English experience disadvantage and sometimes life-threatening risks and hazards as consumers, the Federal Bureau of Consumer Affairs, in conjunction with State and Territory consumer affairs agencies, will develop specially targeted consumer education programs.

    The programs will be delivered through radio in languages other than English, supplemented by publications and announcements on SBS television.

  • Women will gain substantially from the strengthening of Commonwealth Access and Equity requirements. They will also be direct beneficiaries of two further National Agenda initiatives aimed at increasing participation in Government decision-making processes:

-   the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, in conjunction with other departments, will introduce a new, computerised system to monitor the appointment of women, Aboriginal and NESB Australians and people with disabilities, to statutory and other bodies; and
-   the Government will establish a task force on NESB women's issues to promote equitable access by NESB women to government programs and services, to assist co-ordination and development of policies on NESB women's issues and to provide a more effective channel of communication between NESB women and governments.

The task force, to be provided with secretariat support by the Office of the Status of Women with the assistance of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, will include representation from NESB women in the community and from Commonwealth, State and Territory governments.

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