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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 3642 ..

MRS BURKE (continuing):

In our region many of these workers came to work on the vast Snowy Mountain scheme in the 1950s and 1960s. I remember learning much about that in a classroom in England. Awe inspired by it I was indeed. Their feats are now part of our national folklore. Our greatest engineering project was completed only because we had hardworking people who were determined to take advantage of the opportunity afforded them in their new homeland. The new settlers and the country greatly benefited from this and other collaborations like it.

In recent times other factors have driven the reasons for immigration. Most people now arrive from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and New Zealand. Part of our national identity is that we are a nation of immigrants. The Australian population has increased from 7.5 million in 1947 to over 19 million people today. At least half of this growth has been due to immigration. Over 40 per cent of our population either were born overseas or have at least one parent born overseas.

The consequence of immigration, especially since southern Europeans started to arrive after the war, has been an increase in ethnic diversity, a move away from a narrow mono-cultural identity based on Britain to a new concept based on multiculturalism. Until the 1970s, emphasis was on assimilation-making everybody look, sound and act the same. This was a very arrogant and limiting approach.

So much of the modern research into effective working teams emphasises the need to include a multiplicity of views and opinions. Research shows that this approach gives the best results, as a team is able to draw on the strengths, knowledge and skills of individual members. We in Australia have been very successful in drawing on the strengths of the cultures that make up modern Australia, and today we celebrate our cultural diversity.

Doug Floyd summed this up perfectly: "You don't get harmony when everyone sings the same note." This is the essence of what multiculturalism is about: ensuring that everyone has the right and the opportunity to sing their own note, regardless of their cultural background, and we benefit from this by getting all the best bits. And what a song of harmony we have here in the ACT. The ACT is, and will remain, a culturally diverse society, and multiculturalism is the best way to manage this cultural diversity.

This government has supported this multiculturalism and celebrates its benefits with the rest of the community of the ACT. The government has shown leadership in using the benefits that multiculturalism offers on building on them.

There are over 160 multicultural community groups with which the ACT Office of Multicultural and Community Affairs in the Chief Minister's Department engages. These include ethnic clubs, schools, churches, and cultural and social networks. These groups work in partnership with the government, community and business sectors to strengthen Canberra's social capital. They provide a focus to celebrate the differences that each group brings with it to the ACT. They provide social supports and an understanding of the mores and practices that enable people to remain different and still contribute to the greater good.

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