On 18 November, Professor Fethi Mansouri and research colleagues at the Alfred Deakin Institute shared findings of two important new research reports shedding greater light on multicultural Australia, as part of a dual launch, attended by key partners and stakeholders, including Executive Dean Arts and Education Simon Tormey, Dr Hass Dellal OAM, Executive Director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation and State member of Parliament for Footscray, Ms Katie Hall MP.
The Mapping Social Services Provision for Diverse Communities Report, launched by Katie Hall MP, is the product of research conducted in close partnership with the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights (AMWCHR), the Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC) and the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV).
This project idea was developed many years ago through discussions with our partner organisations, to address concerns about the perceived decline in funding for multicultural service providers. The idea was further refined through numerous consultations, which provided the theoretical and empirical grounds for the successful Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP190100459).
The project aimed to investigate the perceived impact and the ideological and political drivers motivating a shift in service delivery from community specific to mainstream organisations, as informed by Australian state and federal government policies.
There is no systematic research on this shift or its socio-economic consequences for diverse migrant communities. Yet, this shift is gathering momentum in Australia and has also been reported in many other émigré countries. Often termed in the relevant literature as the mainstreaming of services, mainstream organisations are being increasingly characterised as best placed to cater to the needs of migrant communities, and community-specific service providers are seen as economically inefficient and a barrier to social integration.
Importantly, the research found that a majority of participants considered multicultural services to be important for their communities, and, for many participants, their sense of wellbeing and inclusion in Australian society are strengthened through such access.
As part of the launch, leaders from all three partner organisations, Nesreen Bottriell, CEO of AMWCHR, Farah Farouque, CEO of ECCV, and Vivienne Nguyen AM, Chairperson of VMC, provided their reflections on the research and future directions.
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