True reflection of Australia’s multiculturalism to be captured with ethnicity data
Auspire welcomes the Federal Government’s announcement that it will begin collecting ethnicity data to measure diversity in Australia.
The move, which was announced by Andrew Giles, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs; aims to capture a more thorough and accurate understanding of the make-up of multicultural Australia.
Historically, country of birth and language spoken at home have been used as the main diversity indicators, but because so many people from diverse backgrounds are actually born in Australia and speak English, experts claim the data just wasn’t accurately reflecting our multiculturalism.
A working group made up of representatives from peak multicultural bodies and data collection and demography experts will be formed to develop a national standard for diversity data collection.
The announcement is supported by Auspire – Australia Day Council WA, and multicultural community groups including the Federation of Ethnic Communities Council. By ensuring the right data such as ethnicity is collected, programs and policies can be developed to better serve culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
“At Auspire, our vision is for Australia to be recognised as the most socially and culturally inclusive country in the world,” said Morgen Lewis, CEO at Auspire. “Better insight into the ethnicities and races that make up Australia will enable us to understand more about our multicultural population, how they are represented and the opportunities available to them, so that we can encourage a sense of belonging within them.”