Multicultural Canberra is good for business

Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Business and Better Regulation, Tara Cheyne MLA, officially opened the National Multicultural Festival on 13 February

After a hiatus of two years, the National Multicultural Festival is back. And it will be three times bigger than ever.

Once upon a time not so long ago, my surname was Huang.

I came to Canberra in 2000 and was quickly followed by my (then) partner and later husband. Together we have two children, who are now in high school and primary school.

None of this should be extraordinary, except that in our pre-Canberra days, my experience was that it was rare in Australia for a white caucasian woman to be in a relationship with an Asian man. Xenophobia, especially levelled at the Chinese community, was all the rage in the 1990s and my former husband and his family even received hate calls in the middle of the night. When we went out in public, we were always noticed; often, we received hate stares at restaurants. It was uncomfortable and at times frightening.

I came to Canberra for a job. But I stayed for the warmth of the community.

I was surprised at how welcoming and accepting Canberra was, and how no one treated us like circus sideshow curiosities. I felt safe here. I met other people who were in cross-cultural relationships. I could chat in Mandarin with friends both Asian and non-Asian. And now, as I co-parent my Eurasian children, I celebrate how they can experience the best of both of their cultures. And at school, their friends include other students who have similar but different blended cultures and they have shared experiences with that.

Multicultural policy

Canberra might not have found a solution to world peace. It hasn’t stamped out crime, and it probably can’t prevent conscious and unconscious bias (or racism). But when it comes to making policy to entrench the importance of diversity and inclusion in our community to make it a welcoming environment to people who come from other cultural environments, it is ahead of the game.

On 9 February Canberra passed a bill on multiculturalism. The new Multiculturalism Act 2022 creates a charter sets out principles and responsibilities for supporting diversity, inclusion and belonging in the territory. It is a positive duty and rights-based values statement for the Canberra community and outlines things like identifying how to celebrate and promote cultural and linguistic diversity, committing to calling out racism and discrimination, and acknowledging the importance of language in cultural identity.

The Multiculturalism Act also creates a Ministerial Advisory Council for Multiculturalism, consisting of 11 members who represent the diversity of communities in the ACT.

Minister for Multicultural Affairs Tara Cheyne MLA (centre) with Toa Takiari (left) and Malcolm Buchanan (right) from the National Multicultural Festival Community Panel Reference Group

Tara Cheyne MLA, whose Cabinet roles include ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Business and Better Regulation and Assistant Minister for Economic Development, said the Act was made possible because Canberra is a welcoming city. “The Act embeds in our legislation our multicultural values and the work the government holds itself accountable to every single day,” she said. “But it is also made possible because of the values our community has at large in being a genuinely welcoming city.”

Canberra: a vibrant, multicultural businesses city

Minister Cheyne said Canberra continues to attract people from diverse backgrounds, with census data showing a growing number of people moving to Canberra from multicultural backgrounds. The 2021 census showed that 28.7% of people in the ACT were born overseas. And there are some surprising patterns of multicultural movement to Canberra, with Cheyne singling out the Nepalese community, which between the 2016 and 2021 censuses grew by over 100%. Cheyne attributes the growth in the multicultural community to several factors including “because we are a welcoming city, not just in our words but in our actions.”

Canberra’s ability to champion diversity and provide a welcoming vibe is important for business and innovation because it enables us to attract the best talent from around the world. As we grow and continue to innovate, this enables us to solve the problem of the chronic shortage of skilled talent. But it also means that we are attracting diversity in thinking and experiences from around the world. And once people arrive here, the commitment to inclusivity means we have a high proportion of multicultural businesses.

According to Minister Cheyne, our multicultural communities are an essential part of our business fabric. “Our multicultural communities are some of the lifeblood of our business community in Canberra today. We’re delighted with the number of multicultural businesses that we have,” she said. Cheyne noted that in Canberra not only do we have thriving multicultural business communities in precincts such as Dickson, but we also have new communities growing in areas such as Gungahlin.

The National Multicultural Festival will be bigger than ever

Shu Birch demonstrates how to make Chinese jiaozi. This year’s festival will include a range of workshops.

But what about the entertainment and food at the National Multicultural Festival? The good news is that there will be plenty.

Erna Glassford (left) receives a lesson on how to tie a sari

This year, the festival will be three times larger than ever before. There will be eight stages, more than 100 community groups represented, and 30 showcase performances (including Mitch Tambo, Lisa Hunt and James Morrison). There will also be hundreds of food stalls. The festival will be so large that it will extend all the way down to Glebe Park.

This year, there will also be 35 workshops that include how to tie an Indian sari or how to wear a Korean hanbok. There will also be opportunities to try kung fu, calligraphy or bush dancing.

There will be so much to see and do, the problem may be planning your visit to ensure you see the best. Minister Cheyne advises visitors to check out the festival program to ensure they plan to attend at the right time.

200,000 people attended the last Multicultural Festival in 2020. With light rail construction impacting Civic, the ACT Government has put on extra shuttle buses to ferry people to and from the event. And with the weather this weekend forecast to be hot (35 degrees on Saturday!), there will be cool places to stop and sit, and drinks stations for refilling water. The message is to make sure to be sun smart and bring your water bottle with you. Or buy something to drink (and eat) from one of the many stalls.

The Multicultural Festival provides a fantastic way to showcase the breadth of our multicultural heritage. The big question is: what is your favourite food stall?