November has flown by, and we are seeing Victoria slowly but cautiously open back up. This month Victorians demonstrated collaboration achieving 80% and 90% double vaccination rates. These numbers demonstrate our commitment to protecting ourselves and our communities to save lives. Thank you.
As a result, it was wonderful to reconnect with some of you in-person.Grassroots, community and faith-based organisations have been instrumental in recent weeks to help us reach our vaccination milestones. One example that stood out to me was the City of Hume which a few months ago was under pressure with its own Delta outbreak and lower vaccine uptake and is now one of the most vaccinated LGAs in the state, reaching 95% first dose and 91.8% second dose this week.
Congratulations to all involved, well-done for your incredible efforts to keep your community safe!
The VMC continues to advocate for targeted COVID-19 support for multicultural communities. Working with government and community partners, we were able to secure funding for ethnic communities’ councils (ECCs) to work with local public health teams in emergency and outbreak response. This is a significant recognition for multicultural communities in the regions.
Though there is still work to be done, community members are telling us they still require targeted, consistent and streamlined support to continue testing and vaccination efforts. We are working closely with Department of Health to elevate these concerns raised with us.
Through a turbulent year, multicultural communities have remained resilient. However, mental health support for multicultural communities needs to remain top of mind. The Victorian government has commenced implementing significant reforms in response to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.
The VMC co-hosted with the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria a Multicultural Mental Health Forum Monday 29 November to explain the implications of the Royal Commission for multicultural communities. Our guest speaker was Professor Harry Minas, Head of the Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit at the University of Melbourne.
We are also advocating to ensure Victoria’s economic recovery does not leave multicultural workers behind. We’ve been meeting with colleagues across Departments to advocate for greater support for people who have found it hard to find long term secure work, and ensure government is using existing tools like the social procurement framework, to enable greater employment opportunities for multicultural communities through their buying power.
As commissioner, I hear so many inspirational stories of local multicultural heroes. For that I am very much looking forward to formally recognising some of these individuals and organisations at the VMC’s annual Multicultural Awards for Excellence next month. Stay tuned for the announcement of our recipients on December 7.
With the festive season quickly approaching I wanted share with you a lovely event I attend year on year called Pillars of Light, in celebration of Chanukah providing multicultural Victorians to come together in unity. Held at Fed Square from 28 November – 5 December, you can find out more about their program here.
End of year wrap up event – Join us! | 13 December 2021 | 12noon-1pm
We look forward to seeing some of you at our end of year wrap up event – an opportunity to reflect on the year that was and the great achievements and learnings from the multicultural sector. Please join us if you can before we say goodbye to 2021! Find our more and register here.
Finally, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the outstanding members of our multicultural communities who were recognised through awards this month:
- Ahmed Hassan, our Victorian Young Australian of the Year 2022
- John Thuy for winning the Promotion of Multiculturalism Award in the 2021 Victorian Senior of the Year Awards
- The impressive list of women from culturally diverse backgrounds recognised in the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, including Emerging Leader inductee Shabnam Safa, Local Champion inductees Dr Sunila Shrivastava, Gulghotai Bezhan, Selba Gondoza Luka and Trailblazer inductees Professor Asha Rao and Dr Nouria Salehi AM.
Viv Nguyen AM, Chairperson
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Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC)
Address: Level 3, 1 Macarthur Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9651 5901
Email: contact@vmc.vic.gov.au