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An overview about presentations and presenters in Breakout Session 2.
Location |
Theme – five concurrent sessions (choose one) |
Plenary room (Room 1) |
Breakout Session 2a: Supporting multicultural young people to thrive
|
Room 2 |
Breakout Session 2b: Fostering inclusion for social cohesion
|
Room 3 |
Breakout Session 2c: Policy and lived experience
|
Room 4 |
Breakout Session 2d: Community engagement and social cohesion initiatives
|
Room 5 |
Breakout Session 2e: Culturally responsive approach to sensitive engagements
|
Location: Plenary room (Room 1)
The Multicultural Youth Affairs Network (MYAN) supports young people aged 12-25 entering the country on humanitarian grounds to settle well. We do this work in the face of global crises and amidst narratives that suggest that migrants are the cause of economic strife.
We know that when we support young humanitarian arrivals well, they thrive.
When we don’t, the risks to young people include lack of meaningful employment, poorer health outcomes and social isolation. Misinterpreted, these risks threaten the social cohesion that previous migrants and the broader Australian public have worked so hard to create and maintain.
In this presentation we will provide a sound understanding of how professional skills, coupled with organisational frameworks are critical to supporting young people arriving to Australia on humanitarian grounds.
We will also create a space to imagine new possible futures - one where people are supported to belong.
Annukina Warda - MYAN NSW
Angela Dela Cruz - MYAN NSW
Location: Room 2
The Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 amends the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 to establish a civil response scheme that allows individuals to lodge complaints about conversion practices with Anti-Discrimination NSW for conciliation. Conversion practices are formal or informal practices based on the false ideology that LGBTQ+ people are `broken' and require treatment. Evidence shows that conversion practices have been promoted in some religious and healthcare settings and are dangerous and damaging to those subjected to them.
Ahead of the Conversion Practices Ban Act coming into effect in April 2025, Anti-Discrimination NSW collaborated with various groups, including victim survivors, the multicultural LGBTQ+ community, religious institutions, healthcare organisations, legal centres and NSW Government agencies including NSW Police. These partnerships were instrumental in informing and educating communities about the ban and the new civil response scheme.
Gillian Stokie - Anti-Discrimination NSW, DCJ
Claire Williams - Anti-Discrimination NSW, DCJ
Location: Room 3
There's a lot of consultation that happens across government. It can sometimes feel like there isn't genuine co-design because there is a disconnect between what is shared and what is included in the final product.
DCJ's Anti-Racism Unit is leading unprecedented anti-racism initiatives across the public sector where DCJ is viewed as a leading agency in the space, collaborating with the Public Service Commission on a sector-wide response to addressing racism.
The Anti-Racism Unit has undertaken consultation, where the focus is on centring lived experience, to inform DCJ’s policy approach to addressing racism. In this presentation, the Anti-Racism Unit's Manager and Senior Project Officer will walk through the process of how government policy development can, and should, safely and appropriately centre lived experience, unpacking the conference theme of 'Bridging gaps for engagement'. Listening to and incorporating the voices of our colleagues in policy design will ensure policy is fit-for-purpose and reflective of needs. Transferrable learnings and practical takeaways will be shared so that conference guests can consider thoughtful and intentional consultation and co-design, ensuring those you are consulting with feel safe and heard, and are provided the opportunity for ongoing engagement.
Jessica Singh - Department of Communities and Justice
Cultural identity influences perception, interpretation and responses to experiences. It plays a critical role in shaping behaviours, thinking and decision-making. Implementation of an evidence-based culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) minimum data set and culturally led, not adapted, practice principles, aim to apply a cultural lens across the service system and achieve more meaningful, equitable and effective engagement.
Detailed data collection through the CALD to Action project and the application of the Culturally Informed Practice Principles (CIPP) will clarify the unique challenges and barriers faced by families, to ensure targeted, culturally relevant staff training and family support. The CALD data collection strategy addresses cultural knowledge gaps by identifying and tackling the unique challenges faced by CALD families. This initiative collects critical cultural data to inform the development of targeted, culturally sensitive interventions.
The practice principles were developed with the Aboriginal Community and then tested with the broader community, including CALD families, to ensure applicability across all cultures. To lead with culture, the core design group agreed, “It's not just what we do but why we do it and how it feels.”
These initiatives identify and address existing barriers, build capacity of organisations, mitigate disconnection and power imbalances, increase awareness and sustainable practice.
Melissa Tonga - Department of Communities and Justice
Pamela Zamorano - Department of Communities and Justice
Location: Room 4
Drawing on SSI's extensive work providing services for and research with refugees, migrants and culturally and linguistically diverse Australians, this presentation will make case for specialised responses in services and initiatives for a multicultural Australia. The case will discuss:
Tadgh McMahon - SSI
Dr Astrid Perry - SSI
When Victorian laws banning display of Nazi symbols commenced in late-2022, a campaign was needed to raise awareness and understanding about the differentiation of the sacred Swastika from the Nazi Hakenkreuz symbol. Developing the campaign involved many stakeholders and careful navigation of sensitive topics, using best practice co-design principles. The campaign successfully increased awareness, promoted understanding, and fostered unity among various faith communities. However, it also highlighted the need for sustained efforts to build awareness, engage the broader community, and adapt to changing demographics.
Developing the campaign required the involvement of a range of stakeholders (Victorian Government, auspice agency Australian Multicultural Foundation, four key faith community organisations and multicultural communications agency CultureVerse), and careful navigation of sensitive and at times traumatic topics.
The campaign's success can be attributed to the collaborative co-design process, which allowed various faith community organisations to gain a deeper understanding of each other's issues and concerns. Stakeholders felt genuinely consulted, heard and engaged, fostering productive discussions and collaboration. The resultant co-designed campaign reflected their contributions and addressed their concerns, thereby achieving shared ownership and resulting in an outstanding example of fostering inclusion for cohesion.
Jess Billimoria - Head of CultureVerse
Location: Room 5
In the current climate of populist politics, migrants have borne the brunt of media misrepresentation and government policies. Questions of loyalty, citizenship, and belonging have dominated media discourse about immigration and migrants. Such media misrepresentation has forced migrant diasporic communities to respond in specific ways, such as a noticeable increase in using alternative media and conjuring government distrust and disengagement. This presentation examines how the Australian Lebanese Shiite community chooses to both engage and disengage with government and other societal structures. The presentation will focus on how to foster inclusion for cohesion and the significance of bridging gaps for communities to engage, particularly for those communities often neglected in government engagement efforts. In the presentation, Dr Fares draws on the methodologies from her PhD research on media use and engagement within the Australian Lebanese Shia community. She will discuss sustainable and effective practices for engaging with culturally sensitive communities, using this community as a case study.
Dr Widyan Fares - Associate Director, Connected Communities, Premier's Department
22 Apr 2025