(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
The Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia, FECCA, believes Australia's image as a country that celebrates cultural diversity has been undermined by what it calls the ugly political debate about asylum seekers.
As the year draws to a close, FECCA is also concerned about the direction multicultural policy could take under the Abbott Government.
Michael Kenny reports.2013 began on a positive note for multicultural policy when the Federal Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Migration released a report in March, describing Australian multiculturalism as a success story.
The committee, comprising five Labor, four Liberal and one Greens member, said Australian multiculturalism stands as a good example to the world on how to build a cohesive society.
The committee put forward 32 recommendations including the need to rebuild Australia's research capacity in the multicultural field, review the provision of ethnic specific aged care services and work towards improving employment opportunities for migrants from a non English speaking background.
The committee's chairperson, Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou, said multicultural policy must also reflect the importance of Indigenous Australians.
"Our challenge as a nation has always been to reconcile our Indigenous identity with that of our modern identity. Australia is one of the most diverse nations on Earth. We are, as I said, a country with an ancient Indigenous inheritance and a contemporary multicultural society."
A submission from the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils called for a change to the legal system for Muslims throughout the nation.
But the report's Deputy Chair, Liberal MP Louise Markus, said the committee rejected any move to implement Sharia law.
"The question of Islam was raised throughout the report and of course in a number of our public hearings. As the report notes, the government and the Coalition do support this. It has the consistent statement that the implementation of Sharia law is not to be considered or implemented."
None of the 32 recommendations from the report were acted upon either by the former Labor or the current Coalition government.
As the federal election date drew closer, both sides of politics made a direct appeal to voters from culturally and religiously diverse backgrounds.
In August, then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told a Ramadan dinner in Sydney, that he believed Australia's diversity was one of its strengths.
"I believe in the fundamental unity of mankind. I believe that the things that unite us truly are more important than anything that divides us. This must be so if the world is to prosper, if the world is to progress."
Having easily won government the following month, Mr Abbott scrapped the position of Multicultural Affairs Minister.
He announced that multicultural affairs and settlement services would no longer be managed by the Department of Immigration.
Instead, it would fall under the control of a newly created Department of Social Services with Kevin Andrews the Minister, who would also be responsible for aged care services.
Mr Abbott appointed NSW Senator Concetta Fierravanti Wells as parliamentary secretary for social services with special responsibility for multicultural affairs and settlement services.
Since taking up the new position, Senator Fierravanti Wells has praised Australia's cultural diversity as one of its greatest assets and committed herself to reviewing the way current multicultural programs are working.
"We are a country that has been built on its migrant experience. I myself am a product of that. I've been brought up in a bicultural, bilingual environment. I was born and raised in Wollongong. So as a country with a migrant story, it is very important that we follow how successive government programs have worked or not worked. What does work and what doesn't work? And where do we need to put our resources and also take the positives from where experiences have resulted in a socially cohesive society?"
Labor's former Multicultural Affairs Minister under the Rudd Government, Senator Kate Lundy, believes the Coalition's decision to scrap the ministerial position shows it won't put a high priority on multicultural policy.
"I think it's profoundly disappointing for all of those people who devote themselves to that part of our community sector and are engaged in our multicultural communities. We worked very hard as a federal Labor government to lift both the status and the substance of the multicultural affairs portfolio and unfortunately the Coalition government has taken some pretty giant steps backwards."
Following Bill Shorten's appointment as Labor's new leader in October, he appointed western Sydney MP Michelle Rowland as Labor's spokesperson on multiculturalism and citizenship.
But the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia says it believes both the major parties failed to pay enough attention to multicultural policy during the federal election campaign.
Recently departed FECCA chairman Pino Migliorino says he is concerned over the negative debate that has emerged at the federal level over the treatment of asylum seekers.
He is particularly concerned over the direction the Abbott Government is taking on this issue.
"I don't think you can have it both ways. I don't think you can go really hard on irregular maritime arrivals and asylum seekers and at the same time, reduce the number of offshore refugees from the UNHCR because the federal government has indicated that it is reducing that number from 20,000 to 13,750. Something needs to give, something needs to be a bit more humane, a bit more engaging."
Mr Migliorino has called on both sides of federal politics to support the passing of a Multicultural Act by parliament over the next three years.
He says the proposed Act would ensure all future governments support measures such as anti-discrimination legislation, a National Language Policy and a National Accreditation Authority for translators and interpreters.
New FECCA chairman Joe Caputo says a national language policy is vital to assure a future Australia can communicate in a broad range of languages.
"I would hope for a language policy that really harnesses all of the potential of the communities that are based in this country -- not just taking up the flavour of the month* that's saying, 'We have to teach this language because ... you know, China is the (key to) the Asian Century,' or Japan, or whatever, but really taking them seriously. We need to have an approach where we encourage languages right across the board."
And Mr Caputo says pursuing good services and care for the migrants who helped build Australia over the past half a century will be another priority for him.
"We are very concerned that, for example, in the aged area, as migrants who have come here in the 1950s and the '60s are getting older, that we ensure that we provide services for them so that they can live in dignity in their old age."
At FECCA's biennial conference on the Gold Coast in November, another issue that was raised was the lack of women from non English speaking backgrounds on public and private sector company boards in Australia.
A federal government commissioned report was unable to say how many women from non English speaking backgrounds there are in top jobs because of a general lack of data.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick believes public and private boards would benefit greatly if they better reflected Australia's cultural diversity.
"What the boards are missing out on are the full range of diversity. One woman in the focus groups just put it so succinctly: we're resilient because we adapt to change, we understand a whole range of cultures, we've moved from one country to another, so we understand a whole range of cultures, we've moved from one country to another, so we understand how to overcome barriers, there are all the things that women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds can bring onto boards and let's face it, a quarter of the country's population was born in a country outside of Australia- they represent consumers and shareholders, so if our companies are going to be representative, they need Culturally and Linguistically Diverse women on their boards."
