More than 50 organisations and 19 nationalities have met in Hallam to raise a united voice for migrant communities.
The Multicultural Unity and Diversity Celebration forum, believed to be the first of its kind in Victoria, was hosted by South-Eastern Multicultural Community Network Victoria on Saturday 11 May.
The network was self-described as a “non-religious, non-political, not-for-profit organisation”.
Melbourne’s South East was seen as the “capital” of multicultural Australia, forum co-organiser Manoj Kumar of South Asian Public Affairs Council said.
The groups would “work together on one platform to voice the issues that matter most for migrant communities”.
They will also endorse upcoming council election candidates who support culturally-diverse communities, Manoj said.
“This forum will provide a great opportunity to listen to the unified voices of South-Eastern suburb communities and policymakers to get direct feedback and response.
“A summary report will be submitted to both the state and federal multicultural ministers and concerned departments for their information and follow-up.”
One of the major issues raised at the forum was the lack of women from migrant backgrounds landing professional “white-collar” jobs,
Specific quotas for “multicultural women” in the public service as well as political parties were needed to address this “gap”, Mr Kumar said.
“It will help them and their families financially, which means mental health issues should also go down.”
Mr Kumar said migrants faced difficulties such as family violence, mental health, financial uncertainty and employability due to recent policy changes on immigration, student visas and religious discrimination laws.
The forum was held at Hallam Senior Citizens Centre, with chief guest speaker being Bruce MP Julian Hill.
