(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
A Commonwealth Multicultural Act is one area the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia plans to address under its new leadership.
Kristina Kukolja reports.
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New Chairman Joe Caputo says FECCA will be undertaking further work with its state counterparts before launching its campaign for a federal multicultural Act.
Mr Caputo says he's already met with the Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, and hopes to eventually take the policy discussion to the Prime Minister.
"We still need to do some comparative studies and further down the track. We have raised the matter with Senator Fierravanti-Wells and she understands that we have that as a policy and we will be discussing with Senator Wells as times goes on, as well as other ministers, and hopefully the prime minister."
Joe Caputo says it's important to appreciate the contribution of migrant and refugee communities to the evolution of Australian society, and the different ways in which they become part of it.
"People move at their own pace and also to integrate means that people don't necessarily want to make this place a worse place. They actually want to bring the very best that they've got from their own culture and make Australia a much better place. If some people feel they have assimilated that's fine as well, there's nothing wrong with somebody saying I'm assimilated and they feel assimilated, but for the majority of ethnic communities they want to feel as though they are not forced into becoming like someone else, but they are considered and valued for what they are, and they are considered and valued for the culture background that they bring to this country."
FECCA's chairman says more needs to be done to ensure institutions better reflect the diverse composition of Australian society, both in the areas of policy and employment practices.
Employment for Australians of non-English speaking backgrounds is a cause close to Joe Caputo's heart, as his own immigration experience was profoundly shaped by the migrant and labour rights movements in the decades following the Second World War.
Mr Caputo observes that new arrivals in Australia today face greater challenges in finding work than those who arrived during previous waves of migration.
"It's a paradox that if I look back historically to the 1970s and the 80s, it was far easier for immigrants, for refugees to actually arive in this country and get a job immediately. Jobs were much (more) easily available in those days, both in the private sectors as well as in the public sectors. We had a very thriving manufacturing industry at the time. It is a little bit more difficult for newly arrived and emerging communities as they arrive now because the labour market has become much more complex."
Joe Caputo has previously stated his belief that Australia would strongly benefit from a national language policy.
He says one which would be inclusive of established and newer languages spoken in the country could have far reaching commercial value.
And he says Australia has many language policy experts who are recognised overseas, and whose knowledge could also be utilised at home.
"We are very lucky in Australia to have such a great diversity of language, of communities. However we don't harness all of those skills that we bring to this country. For example we have experts in language policy, we have people like Joe Labianca at Melbourne University who are doing much more work in the Asian countries in assisting governments in those countries to develop national language policy than he does in Australia. So, we have the skills, we have the people who can advise governments, they do advise governments in other countries, that can actually assist us in developing a national language policy. In other words, people to harness what they bring so that we can use it also commercially for the benefit of this country."
FECCA's chairman says his organisation wants to elevate the debate on multiculturalism not only within political circles, but also in the wider Australian community.
"We are going to be working to reassure not only our own base, because we don't want to speak to the converted, we also want to speak to the broader Australian community, to middle Australia to make them understand that multiculturalism is not a threat, multiculturalism is an asset, and a benefit that can really enhance Australia's capabilities in this smaller and smaller world."
