PRIME MINISTER
FOR MEDIA 9 April 1987
The Government's newly established Advisory Council on
Multicultural Affairs is to prepare a National Agenda for a
Multicultural Australia. I proposed this to the Council at
its inaugural meeting in Canberra today.
The National Agenda will comprise a program of specific
priorities that will translate our policy of
multiculturalism into a series of concrete initiatives.. It
will need to be developed on the basis of consultation with
a broad range of community interests.
My Government sees multiculturalism as a key social policy
which significantly affects all Australians. It is central
to the pursuit of social justice. There is a need to ensure
that all Australians, regardless of ethnic origins, are able
to enjoy equal life chances.
Through the National Agenda, the Council is being asked to
assess how far Australia has come in achieving these
objectives, and to chart future directions. I envisage that
the Agenda will incorporate policies designed to promote
equity and access in both the public and private sectors, as
well as plans for effective community education.
In determining a National Agenda for a Multicultural
Australia, the Council will look at such areas as the law,
education, employment, health, media, culture, women's and
youth affairs, trade unions and business.
I am confident that the varieties of talents represented in
the Council will ensure that it is well placed to provide
the Government with the best possible advice.'
The 22-member Advisory Council on Multicultural Affairs is
charged with providing advice to me and the Minister
Assisting, Mr Young, on ways in which the Government might
advance its objective of encouraging the further development
of our multicultural society. It is chaired by Justice Sir
James Gobbo, of the Victorian Supreme Court, and includes Mr
George Wojak ( Deputy Chairperson), of the Federation of the
Ethnic Communities, Councils of Australia; Mr David Brydon,
Managing Director of ACI International Ltd; Sir Nicholas
Shehadie, Chairman of SBS; and Mr Simon Crean, President of
the ACTU. The Advisory Council, the full composition of
which is attached, will be supported in developing the
National Agenda by the new office of Multicultural Affairs
within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The National Agenda will look to a multicultural future in
which all Australians, irrespective of background, are able
to participate fully in national life, in which community
resources are fairly available to all, and in which the
skills and abilities of all Australians can be harnessed
without barriers of discrimination and prejudice.
An action-orientated Agenda will make a major contribution
to my Government's commitment to equity. I see
multiculturalism as central to enhancing the quality of life
for the next generation of Australians.
ATTACHMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL ON MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS
Justice Sir James Gobbo
( Chairperson)
Mr Wlodzirnierz ( George) Wojak
( Deputy Chairperson)
Mr David J. Brydon
Mr Simon Crean
Ms Helen Cattalini
Dr David Cox
Ms Hanifa Dean-Oswald
Mrs Rena Frangioudakis
Miss Eugenia Grammatikakis
Mrs Margaretha Hanen President, Co As It
President, Italian Historical
Society Chairperson, Federation of
Ethnic Communities' Council
of Australia
Member, National Population
Council managing Director, ACI
International Ltd
President of the Australian
Council of Trade Unions
Commissioner, Multicultural
and Ethnic Affairs Commission
of Western Australia
Snr Lecturer, Social Work,
University of Melbourne
Chairperson, Settlement and
Ethnic Affairs Section,
National Population Council
Acting Manager, Community
Education, Commissioner's
office for Equal opportunity
in Victoria
Greek radio broadcaster, 3EA
Committee member, Ethnic
Children's Television
Foundation Secretary, Ethnic
Communities' Council of
Tasmania Ethnic Consultant, office of
the Commissioner for the
Ageing SA,
Executive, Ethnic
Communities' Council of SA
Mr Steve Karas
Ms Morag Loh
Miss Lidia De Luca
Mrs Therese Thi Huong Morris
Mr Nontas Pezaros
Mr Nino Randazzo
Mr Timothy Ching-Ming Shao
Dr Joachim Schneeweiss
Dr Ahmad Shboul
Sir Nicholas Shehadie Snr Lecturer, Law, Queensland
Institute of Technology
Chairperson, Ethnic
Communities' Council of
Queensland, Member of Review
of Migrant and Multicultural
Programs and Services, 1986
Member, Historic Records
Search Committee for the
Bicentenary Oral historian of immigrants;
multilingual theatre work
Snr Vice-Chairperson, Ethnic
Communities' Council of the
Northern Territory
Secretary, Vietnamese
Community of Newcastle and
the Hunter
Editor, Neos Kosmos
Editor, Il Globo, Victoria
National Director, Australian
Council of Churches' Refugee
and Migrant Services
Executive, Refugee Council
President, Executive Council
of Australian Jewry 1977-9,
1981-3
Board member, Australian
Jewish Welfare Society
Snr Lecturer, Arabic and
Islamic Studies, University
of Sydney
Hon. Adviser to the Islamic
Federation Chairman, Special
Broadcasting Service
Ms Maria Vukadinovic-Jockel
Professor Eric Willmot Deputy Chairman, Ethnic
Affairs Commission of
Victoria Hon. Life member,
Australian-Yugoslav Welfare
Society Head of Education, James Cook
University, Head, ACT Schools
Authority ( Appointment in
1987)
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