Integration: Building Inclusive Societies (IBIS) Forum Report

Last year Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria in partnership with Deakin University’s Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation ran UNAOC Integration: Building Inclusive Societies (IBIS) Forum ‘Diversity, Citizenship and Social Inclusion’.

The IBIS Forum brought together representatives from government, business, education, the not for profit sector, and the community, to discuss social inclusion, diversity and citizenship. Specifically, the forum sought to explore current issues relating to multiculturalism, cultural diversity and intercultural relations, with a view to inform policy development.

Mr Sam Afra delivered an address on global diversity. The key challenge facing intercultural understanding, according to Mr Afra, is for individuals to learn to agree to disagree. He said, "We, as global citizens, must learn to respect and understand diverse opinions if [we] are to live successfully in the modern world". Mr Afra then highlighted challenges faced by "new and emerging communities" in the areas of "employment and housing, and the media misrepresentations of these new immigrant communities which contributes to "already strained relations". He argued for a need to improve media strategies and reporting guidelines so as to promote a commitment "to social cohesion, even in uncertain times". He noted that, "Multiculturalism should not be a scapegoat when addressing the civic problems we face".

Mr Afra concluded that the good governance of cultural diversity requires foresight and leadership as we "can’t afford to react to community needs once it has already reached crisis." Policy must be formulated

Mr Afra linked local diversity in Australia to a growing global trend in which cultural diversity has become increasingly visible and thus the global nature of diversity has become a local reality. For Afra, a strong multicultural Australia draws its strength from diversity and that within Australia"Victoria is the capital of multiculturalism".

To see the conference report summary click HERE.