1995 Global Cultural Diversity Conference Proceedings, Sydney

Cultural Diversity and Challenges in the Provision of Health and Welfare Services
Towards Social Justice:
Employment and Community Services in Culturally-Diverse Australia

Continued, from part two

5. Economic Security for People of Non-English Speaking Background

The National Council's Report, Creating the Links: Families and Social Responsibility, emphasised that Australia's multicultural heritage and composition should not only be valued and celebrated, but even more importantly, should be recognised in policy and program development. People of non-English speaking backgrounds represent a very diverse range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds and cannot be considered a homogeneous group. Differences related to ethnicity, culture, religion, age, gender, occupation, length of residence, English language proficiency and educational qualifications colour and shape the experiences of migration and settlement.

The consultations for the International Year for the Family identified that the priorities for individuals and families of non-English speaking background are: acquisition of English language skills; entry to employment, education and training programs; equitable access to appropriate community services; and specialised refugee support services.

A number of participants in consultations focused on the importance of access and equity guidelines and their implementation to ensure access to services and the provision of culturally appropriate programs and information. Raised consistently throughout the consultations was the provision of English language programs well beyond the initial settlement period, and the importance of childcare services, education, training and employment programs for parents to become and remain family bread-winners.

The employment-related disadvantages of recently arrived migrant families were identified, with advocacy for labour market programs which first provide English language training, followed by appropriate vocational training. Also advocated was a re-examination of the overseas qualifications assessment guidelines to enable migrants to have better access to the employment for which they have formal qualifications, accompanied by appropriate further training where necessary.

Consultations and submissions indicated that the major impacts of migration and resettlement involve problems with English language acquisition, reduced employment status, lack of recognition of overseas qualifications and employment experience, social dislocation and isolation. The consistent issues which arose were:

• lack of knowledge about, or access to existing services and resources;
  
  
• the inability of some services to meet the needs of non-English speaking background families;
  
  
• reduced employment opportunities and the necessity to acquire English language proficiency;
  
  
• the challenges facing newly-arrived migrant families and refugee families, which have a particular impact on women, children and young people.
  
  

Ensuring Access and Equity for Families of Non-English Speaking Background

Consultations undertaken by the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia (FECCA) as an IYF Project, resulted in the following conclusions: families from non-English speaking background may be unfamiliar with services (e.g.. child health clinics); have inadequate information and knowledge about community services; have language and communication constraints and difficulties in accessing interpreter services; have limited access to translated printed materials in community languages; experience a general insensitivity of services to cultural diversity and the needs of their families. It was also suggested that the less than expected utilisation of services such as child care, aged care, disability, home and community care services may be due not only to a lack of information and knowledge about available services, but also to the perception that the services are not culturally appropriate.

Two interconnected ways for addressing community service delivery for migrant families were raised at consultations and in the submissions.

Services for Particular Ethnic Communities: Services designed specifically for particular ethnic communities have an important role in addressing the special needs of migrant families and in providing links with mainstream services. However, these services cannot be expected to replace the range of general community/government services. Nor should they be seen as relieving general services of their responsibility to meet the needs of non-English speaking background families in appropriate ways. The critical issue is strengthening of the linkages between the two forms of service.

General Services: According to consultations, ethno-specific services cannot be provided sufficiently or expected to meet all human service and health care needs. Rather, the favoured alternative is the recruitment of bilingual/bicultural workers to mainstream children's services, aged care and disability programs. Ethnic community organisations supported models such as the Community Options projects funded through the Home and Community Care Program, which allow tendering to specific ethnic communities to provide a range of community supports for older people, people with disabilities and their carers.

Other ways to improve resources for families from non-English speaking backgrounds include: cross-cultural training for service providers and community workers; provision of affordable interpreter services; inclusion of multi-cultural perspectives in the development and implementation of services; involvement of non-English speaking background communities in the development and delivery of services.

Employment Opportunities for People of Non-English Speaking Background

Unemployment has become a central issue in the resettlement of individuals and families from certain non-English speaking backgrounds, in particular from Indo-China and the Middle East. Migrant employees have been traditionally concentrated in those industries most in decline, in particular in manufacturing (FECCA, IYF Project Report, 1994; Moss,1993a).

The Report by the Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner, State of the Nation, demonstrates that as a result of economic recessions, certain ethnic communities have been particularly affected by increasing rates of unemployment (Moss, 1993a). The report identifies other factors which contribute to the disadvantaged labour market circumstances of people of some non-English speaking backgrounds: occupational segregation; limited on-the-job and off-the-job training opportunities; and limited opportunities for re-employment of older migrant workers affected by retrenchment from industries in decline, or industries demanding a more highly qualified workforce.

Some of the factors militating against secure employment or re-employment for people of non-English speaking backgrounds are:

• limited proficiency in English;
  
  
• non-recognition or limited recognition of overseas skills and qualifications;
  
  
• restricted and/or interrupted opportunities for acquiring adequate English language skills. This is particularly relevant to women with family responsibilities, since the criteria for gaining access to free English language classes in the settlement period include that individuals register for classes within three months of arrival, take up classes within 12 months and complete the maximum number of hours within three years, unless granted a deferral.

These stipulations do not take into account the obligations of migrant women in the period of settlement to first meet the needs of their families. English language tuition may become salient to migrant women at a later stage in the process of settlement, e.g., when they gain a chance to enter the labour force, when their children enter school or they find suitable child care, or if their marriage ends and they become sole parents. They may then fall outside the criteria for free English language tuition precisely when the need for English language training is greatest (Keating, 1994a; Cass, Wilkinson, Webb, 1992);

• discrimination, often indirect or systemic (Keating, 1994a);
  
  
• restricted employment options and opportunities for entry into employment, education and training programs.
  
  

Consultations emphasised the importance of English language proficiency, not only for participation in employment and training programs, but also in industrial processes such as enterprise bargaining. Also strongly supported were use of "case management" approaches as outlined in Working Nation (1994), designed to improve opportunities for people of non-English speaking background to participate in an integrated program of English language training, education, vocational training and employment.

Working Nation recognises that workers with language and literacy difficulties often experience problems in maintaining employment. The Commonwealth Government has announced funding for the Workplace English Language and Literacy program to assist workers who are at most risk of displacement from industries requiring more highly qualified workers. Other measures foreshadowed in Working Nation include improved migrant consultative arrangements in the Commonwealth Employment Service through Migrant Advisory Committees, and a new nationwide network of Migrant Liaison Officers; and improved access for people of non-English speaking background to the New Employment Incentive Scheme. These are welcome measures for migrant breadwinners and young people and require adequate resourcing as a matter of priority.

It is a matter of priority for people of non-English speaking backgrounds, both more recent arrivals and older workers at risk of retrenchment, that the projected increased investment in labour market programs outlined in Working Nation be implemented. In addition, labour market programs need to incorporate the employment and training requirements of women, particularly women with children, seeking to re-enter the labour force after migration. To address this, funding for English language programs will need to provide classes not only in the arrival and early settlement period, but also beyond that, in recognition of women's later entry into the labour force after migration, and in recognition of the retraining needs of older migrant men and women facing unemployment.

Refugee Families and Young People

People who arrive in Australia as refugees, including children and young people, have particular needs, since they usually arrive with few resources, having often experienced great trauma before leaving their home country, including the loss of close family members. In particular, the precarious circumstances of young refugees has been identified (Moss, 1993a). Young people comprise a significant proportion of Australia's refugee intake: about 36 per cent of refugees in 1992-93 were aged under 19 years, with almost 20 per cent under nine years of age. Many children and young people leave their country of origin with only one parent, and many arrive as unattached minors.

Among the most urgent needs of newly arrived refugee families is appropriate, secure and affordable housing, which provides linkages to other informal and formal support networks; employment, education and training opportunities, including access to extended English language classes and child care. A supportive settlement process for refugee families and unattached young people requires access to a range of services, including the early provision of appropriate resettlement programs which connect families, and especially unattached young people, with their community networks; recognition of qualifications and additional training if required; adequate income support; labour market assistance; and maximum opportunity to participate in the community.

Children's Services for Families of Non-English Speaking Background

Submissions to the National Council for the International Year for The Family emphasised that the socio-economic disadvantages experienced by a high proportion of migrant families of non-English speaking background would be exacerbated unless employment and training programs are accompanied by culturally appropriate childcare services. Since employed migrant women of non-English speaking background are over-represented in relatively low paid jobs in the service industries, often involving irregular working hours and shift-work, flexible, culturally appropriate children's services are essential (Keating, 1994b).

National Council consultations with FECCA indicated that children's services with a multicultural focus are preferred, rather than services for specific ethnic groups, requiring the employment of bi-cultural childcare workers. Multicultural childcare enables children from both English speaking and non-English speaking backgrounds, children of different ethnic, cultural and religious traditions, to play, learn and develop together. This is a valuable part of the process of embedding acceptance of cultural diversity in Australian community life.

Conclusions

To return to the objectives of the World Summit on Social Development in which this paper has been framed alleviation and reduction of poverty, the expansion of productive employment, and the enhancement of social integration. It is clear from the Australian evidence that if recognition of cultural diversity is to move beyond the rhetoric of tolerance to embrace a genuine, resource-driven commitment to social justice when cultural difference and socio-economic inequalities intersect, then priority in public policies must be focused on the generation of employment and reduction of unemployment and labour force marginality.

Bringing social justice to the public policies which determine resource distribution to indigenous people and people of non-English speaking background demands appropriate education, training and employment programs necessary for sustained and secure employment and adequate income. This is the base of access and equity in health care, good housing, community service provision and community development. The most urgent public policy issue is the Commonwealth Government's fulfilment of the commitments made in the White Paper Working Nation, to expand employment and to direct strongly increased investment in employment services to all long-term unemployed people and to those with other labour market disadvantages, where indigenous Australians and migrants of non-English speaking backgrounds are over-represented.

Australia is uniquely placed as a social democracy with an official national commitment to social justice to ensure that these fundamental resources which reduce inequality and promote social cohesion in a culturally diverse society are given the priority which they require.

Footnote

Unless otherwise indicated, these data are drawn from statistics prepared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), derived mainly from a Survey of Australian families carried out in 1992 and from 1991 Census data, and published by the ABS as a major contribution to the International Year of the Family. The ABS definition of a family for statistical purposes is "two or more people living in the same household who are related to each other by blood, marriage, de facto partnering, fostering or adoption" (ABS, 1994).

References

ABS (1993) Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families, Cat. No. 6224.0, ABS (1994) Focus on Families: Demographics and Family Formation, Cat. No. 4420.
ABS (1995) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey 1994, Cat. No. 4190.0.
ABS Queensland (1994) The Social Characteristics of Immigrants in Australia, Bureau of Immigration and Population Research, AGPS, Canberra.
Altman, J. and Daley, A. (1994) Indigenous Australians in the Labour Market, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU, Canberra.
ALRC (1986) Report on the Recognition of Customary Laws, AGPS, Canberra Bureau of Immigration and Population Research (1994) Immigrant Families: A Statistical Profile, Bureau of Immigration and Population Research, Canberra.
Cass, B. and Cappo, D. (1995) Families: Agents and Beneficiaries of Socio-Economic Development, Occasional Paper series No. 16, United Nations, Vienna.
Cass, B., Wilkinson, M., Webb, A. (1992), The Economic, Labour Market and Social Circumstances of Sole Parents of Non-English Speaking Background: Implications for Policy Development, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Canberra.
Committee on Employment Opportunities (1993) Restoring Full Employment, AGPS, Canberra.
Commonwealth of Australia (1994) White Paper: Working Nation, AGPS, Canberra.
Dodson, M. (1994) First Report: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commission, AGPS, Canberra
Dodson, M. (1994) "The rights of indigenous peoples in the International Year of the Family", Family Matters, No. 37 (April).
FECCA (1994) Caring in a Cultural and Social Context, FECCA, Sydney.
Hartley, R. and McDonald, P. (1994) "The many faces of families", Family Matters, No. 37 (April).
Keating, C. (1994a) Race and Sex Discrimination in Employment and Training, Association of Non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia, Sydney.
Keating, C. (1994b) The Child Care Needs of Non-English Speaking Background Women for Education and Training, Association of Non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia, Sydney.
Keating, P. J., Baldwin, P., Crowley, R. (1995) An Agenda for Families, AGPS, Canberra.
Kickett, M. (1994) Housing Indigenous Families, paper presented at IYF Housing Forum, (August), Canberra.
McKendrick, J. (1993) Patterns of Psychological Distress and Implications for Mental Health Service Delivery in an Urban Aboriginal General Practice Population, Melbourne.
Moss, I. (1993a) State of the Nation: A Report on People of Non-English Speaking Backgrounds, AGPS, Canberra.
Moss, I. (1993b) Speech to the National Assessment Research Forum, National Council for the International Year of the Family (1994) Creating the Links: Families and Social Responsibility, AGPS, Canberra.
National Health Strategy (1992) Enough to Make You Sick: How Income and Environment Affect Health, National Health Strategy Research Paper No. 1, Canberra.

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