4 days ago
Government to establish new Multicultural Affairs Office under promoted Anne Aly
An Office for Multicultural Affairs will be established within the Home Affairs Department to combine the department's existing multicultural affairs stream with settlement services and community grants programs. It falls short of the multicultural framework review's urgent recommendation to establish a standalone Department of Multicultural Affairs, Immigration and Citizenship with a dedicated minister. Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster will make the announcement to the department at 11am on Tuesday with a mandatory consultation period to begin shortly after.
Settlement services, including the Adult Migrant English Program, grants for humanitarian entrants and other eligible migrants and communities could be included in the Office, as well as translation and interpreting services, and multicultural affairs policy. Exactly what's in the Office's remit will be considered as part of the department's mandatory consultation period. The Office could begin operation from 17 July, a week before the first sitting of the new Parliament.
The landmark multicultural framework review released in August last year recommended establishing a standalone Department of Multicultural Affairs, Immigration and Citizenship with a dedicated minister, alongside a Multicultural Affairs Commission and Commissioner. The review found that the Multicultural Affairs portfolio was unable to influence public policy and government decision making within the Department of Home Affairs, and "the focus of policy and program approaches to culturally and racially marginalised communities has become one of being monitored and managed rather than inclusive and celebratory". The review also found that although multicultural policies are more than just immigration policy, the panel was "repeatedly struck by the interplay of migration policy and planning in shaping our success as a multicultural nation", recommending that immigration, citizenship, and multicultural responsibilities sit within a standalone department and single minister.
Although a standalone Multicultural Affairs Minister has been elevated to Cabinet, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke will still hold the Immigration and Citizenship portfolios, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs will sit within the Home Affairs Department. At the time of the review, Andrew Giles held the Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs portfolios in the outer ministry, with the review recommending elevating the multicultural minister to cabinet to allow "greater influence over decision-making across government rather than just within their own portfolio". SBS News understands the government intends to create a level of separation between multicultural affairs and the mega Home Affairs department that is responsible for national security, including counterterrorism and border enforcement, the AFP, ASIO, as well as immigration and citizenship.
The Office will be responsible for the grants programs currently administered by the Department of Home Affairs. Since the Start of the Hamas-Israel war in 2023, the Department of Home Affairs has awarded more than $30 million in grants for "community funding to support social cohesion initiatives". This includes $2 million awarded to SBS to deliver reporting in multiple languages, and AAP for fact-checking services. SBS News understands the grants process will be reviewed by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, with the intention of modernising the program and improving accessibility. The special envoys for combatting Antisemitism and Islamophobia currently fall under the Minister of Multicultural Affairs portfolio and may become part of the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
