The Role Of The Multicultural Sector In Health Services
A Speech by Sam Afra, Chairperson
Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV)
DHS Cultural Diversity Forum - 20 March 2008
Good morning. It’s a pleasure to join you this morning for this special DHS Cultural Diversity Forum and hear the Ministers’ assurance of the Victorian Government’s commitment to cultural diversity. I’d like to begin to begin by acknowledging the original custodians of the land where we gather, and paying my respects to Joy Wandin-Murphy, and any other elders who may be present.
I’d also like to thank our event partners: the Department of Human Services (DHS), and the Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC) for their assistance in organising today’s forum. As the peak body representing ethnic and multicultural communities in Victoria and key liaison point with government, ECCV believes it is essential that the free-flow of ideas between service bodies, decision makers and the public be as frequent and far-reaching as practicable.
On that note, I’d like to thank each of the Ministers for taking the time to join us today and show such an active interest in issues regarding community service delivery to culturally diverse communities. Finally, it would be remiss of me not to add a special word of congratulations to George Lekakis and his team at the Victorian Multicultural Commission who are celebrating 25 years of dedicated service to Victoria’s multicultural community. I had the pleasure of attending the VMC’s annual Multicultural Gala Dinner hosted by the Premier last Saturday night – the feature event of Cultural Diversity Week – which was a wonderful event as always.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Cultural Diversity Week is one of my favourite times of the year. The smorgasbord of different activities, exhibitions, workshops, and public forums is a timely reminder that as Victorians, we truly are blessed by choice. By way of a neat plug, I should note that the ECCV has joined forces with some of the local community organisations in Carlton to host an array of family-oriented activities later this afternoon on the grounds of the Carlton Housing Estate.
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