Multicultural Conversations Engagement Report 2017

Multicultural Conversations Engagement Report

Multicultural Conversations

Engagement Report 2017


1 Introduction

The Sunshine Coast has a diverse and growing multicultural population with one in every five people born

overseas representing 156 countries, 45 faiths and 96 languages.

The purpose of the Multicultural Conversations engagement project is for the Sunshine Coast Council and

partners to understand and address barriers to participation and social inclusion within the multicultural

community. The engagement methodology has retained a strong focus on enhancing opportunities and

appreciating strengths through community participation. The project has provided meaningful opportunities for

sharing dialogue, knowledge and skills to enhance understanding across the multicultural community, council

and sector.

Engaging with the multicultural community has also provided an important opportunity for people to share their

personal experiences, build the multicultural narrative of the Sunshine Coast and inform strategies and

programs that impact their future.

The project was implemented over four phases. Initially connecting with multicultural sector to plan

engagement. Secondly, delivering a three month community engagement plan. Thirdly, a forum for the

multicultural sector and a community showcase and finally the development of a regional multicultural action

plan. This report will outline the engagement methodology and outcomes throughout each phase of the project.

Objectives of the Multicultural Conversations project are:

Enable a region wide conversation on multiculturalism

Understand barriers to participation and social inclusion for the multicultural community

Enhance capacity and leadership of the multicultural community

Develop and maintain partnerships with local community, private enterprise, non-government and

government organisations to develop local responses to social issues experienced by the multicultural

community

Increase social capital through positive messaging, connections, awareness and appreciation of

multiculturalism

1.1 The Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland

Running concurrently with the Multicultural Conversations Project, the Anti-Discrimination Commission

Queensland also engaged in a Community Conversation - ‘Creating an Inclusive Community in our Region’.

Two community meetings were held at the University of the Sunshine Coast on Saturday 2 April and

Saturday 28 May 2016.

The synergies between the projects brought the project teams together and forged a strong collaborative

relationship. While the themes explored were not the same, nevertheless there is a familiar thread between

the findings of the projects.


2 Methodology

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 data indicate that there are 156 countries represented on the Sunshine

Coast, either through place of birth or ancestry. The number of people born overseas was 50,033 which

represented 19.3% of the population of the Sunshine Coast in 2011. The challenge for the project team was

to formulate a multifaceted engagement plan that would be inclusive of as many members of the multicultural

community as possible and provide both qualitative and quantitative data.

The first step in formulating the engagement plan was to identify and collaborate with the community partners

who provide services, projects, programs and activities for multicultural clients. Partner interviews served two

main purposes, to determine the issues encountered by multicultural clients and methods of engaging with the

multicultural community.

Partner interviews were transcribed and analysed to determine the key themes affecting the multicultural

community. Five key themes were identified and utilised to form the basis for further engagement activities.

A survey was designed to capture quantitative data from a broad spectrum of the community. This covered

basic demographics, questions about personal experiences, needs and opinions. Surveys are a common form

of intelligence gathering on social issues and trends which can influence further investigations and actions.

With the assistance of the community partners, group conversations were arranged with members of the

multicultural community. Group conversations were led by a Community Engagement Facilitator and focused

on the five themes. It was important that the multicultural community were comfortable participating in the

group conversations and for this reason they were conducted in familiar surroundings with a very flexible

delivery. Information through the group conversations elicited a rich level of qualitative information.

Throughout the engagement process, individuals were identified and approached for one-on-one interviews.

Although the five themes formed the basis for these interviews, the main objectives were to record personal

experiences of migration, to tell the story of multiculturalism, celebrate successes and create awareness of the

different cultures living on the Sunshine Coast. Six of the people interviewed were selected to record their

stories on video.

2.1 Partner Interviews

The multicultural community engages with services and programs across a wide sector of providers. These

include community and neighbourhood centres, support groups, educational institutions and other agencies.

The following service providers participated in the partner interviews from 4th April to 30th April 2016.

2.2 Key Issues

The material from the interviews was transcribed, collated and analysed to discover the key issues being

experienced across the community agencies. The five themes identified are as follows:

Economic Opportunities

Health and Wellbeing

Social Inclusion and Exclusion

Education

Racism and Discrimination

Nambour Community Centre Caloundra Community Centre

Maroochy Neighbourhood Centre Maleny Neighbourhood Centre

Diversicare Carers Queensland

TAFE East Coast University of the Sunshine Coast

Buddies Refuge Support Group Volunteering Sunshine Coast

Public Health Network


2.3 Engagement Plan

The project team participated in four workshops to formulate an engagement plan based on the five key

themes.

Key engagement activities included:

Online Survey

Group conversations

One-on-one in depth conversations with multicultural citizens

Six video stories

Sector mapping

Sector Forum

Community Showcase

Pop-up information stalls

2.4 Branding and Communication Plan

A look and feel was developed to promote the Multicultural Conversations program and encourage

participation in the various engagement activities and events.

Facebook, e-newsletters, pop-up information stalls at various events (Harmony Day, Citizenship

Ceremonies), flyers and posters were all used to spread the word and encourage participation.

3 Engagement Outcomes

3.1 Online Survey

The online survey was open from May 3 until July 27 and available through survey monkey. In addition to

encouraging respondents to complete the survey on line, a paper form was also available for those that were

unable to access the online version. These paper copies were then entered online by members of the project

team. In total there were 275 responses to the survey. The survey did not have mandatory questions.

Respondents were able to skip questions they did not wish to answer. Therefore, throughout the analysis the

number of respondents to each questions varies and is noted on each graph. Although survey monkey

provides basic analysis, the raw data was exported and analysed in greater depth by the project team.

Question 1: How happy do you feel living on the Sunshine Coast? and

Question 2: Why do you feel like that?

Respondents identified very strongly that they were happy or very happy living on the Sunshine Coast (88.3%).

The reasons where primarily around the quality of lifestyle, including the environment, climate and friendly and

safe community. However some participants felt there was limited access to activities and limited tolerance to

diversity.

“I love the climate and space, but feel we are missing out on the integration of the broader community by not being willing to welcome people from all nationalities and religions”.


Questions 3: Are you getting enough help to support your health and well-being needs? and

Question 4: What support or services do you need to better support your health and wellbeing?

Ninety percent of respondents felt they are getting enough help and support for their health and wellbeing. The

remaining ten percent felt language support and improved access to affordable mental and physical heath

options, cultural activities and exercise would assist.

Question 5: What is your highest level of education?

A Bachelor Degree was the highest reported educational qualification at 41% with a further 14% of respondents

holding a Masters Degree. Seventeen percent of respondents have obtained a Vocational Certificate/Diploma.

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0% 45.0%

Facilities/Amenities/Services

Close to Family/Friends

Friendly people/Community

Climate/Weather

Quality of Life/Lifestyle

Environment

Q2: Top Six Themes for Feeling Happy and Very Happy Living on the Sunshine Coast

n=243

“There are not enough services focused on people with English as a second language. Sometimes health issues are difficult to translate”

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0%

Other

PhD

College Diploma

High School

Masters Degree

Vocational Certificate/Diploma

Bachelor Degree

Q5-What is your highest level of education? n=257


Question 6: Are you currently studying? and Question 7: Where are you studying?

Nineteen percent of the participants are currently studying either full-time or part-time. Fifty Two percent are

studying at university with twenty one percent attending TAFE. Other educational institutions for study include

University of the Third Age, Sunshine Coast Council’s Adult Literacy Program and online study.

Question 8: Have you been able to gain employment on the Sunshine Coast, using your

qualifications or skills?

Of the 119 respondents that answered this question, 58% reported that they had been able to gain

employment using their qualifications or skills. A cross tabulation with Q5 (Highest qualification), indicates

that of the respondents that answered both questions, 26.7% with a qualification were successful in gaining

employment. However almost 20% have not been successful in gaining employment.

42.0%

58.0%

Q8-Have you been able to gain employment on the Sunshine Coast, using your qualifications or skills? n-

119

No Yes

8.2%

10.5%

81.3%

Q6-Are you currently studying? n=257

Full time Part time No


Due to the large number of Australian born respondents, a further cross tabulation was performed to

examine the proportion of overseas born respondents, with a tertiary qualification, and their job seeking

experience. The table below indicates that, of the 128 respondents born overseas and holding a tertiary

qualification, 25% were not successful in gaining employment with their qualification.

Where were you born

Tertiary

Qualification

Have you been able to gain employment on the

Sunshine Coast, using your qualifications or

skills?

Count % Yes

No

Not Stated

Australia 59 31.6% 18 30.5% 8 13.6% 33 55.9%

Born outside Australia 128 68.4% 35 27.3% 32 25.0% 61 47.7%

Total responses 187 53 28.3% 40 21.4% 94 50.3%

Question 9: What is your current occupation?

Thirty eight percent of respondents were employed full time and 20% part time. A significant proportion were

self-employment 8% and home duties 6% with almost 7% reporting that they were unemployed.

Q5 What is your

highest level of

education?

Q8 Have you been able to gain employment on the Sunshine Coast,

using your qualifications or skills?

Yes No Not Stated Totals

count % count % count % count %

Bachelor Degree 32 30.5% 19 18.1% 54 51.4% 105 40.7%

College Diploma 9 32.1% 4 14.3% 15 53.6% 28 10.9%

High School 5 15.2% 5 15.2% 23 69.7% 33 12.8%

Masters Degree 5 13.5% 12 32.4% 20 54.1% 37 14.3%

PhD 3 50.0% 2 33.3% 1 16.7% 6 2.3%

Vocational

Certificate/Diploma 14 40.0% 4 11.4% 17 48.6% 35 13.6%

Other 1 7.7% 3 23.1% 9 69.2% 13 5.0%

Not Stated 0.0% 1 100.0% 0.0% 1 0.4%

Totals 69 26.7% 50 19.4% 139 53.9% 258 100.0%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0%

Other

Volunteer

Contract Work

Casual Work

Student

Home Duties

Unemployed

Self Employed

Retired

Employed Part time

Employed Full time

Q9 - Current Occupation n=253


Question 10: Do you believe your ethnicity and/or nationality has limited your employment

opportunities?

Although almost 80% of respondents replied in the negative to this question, a significant proportion do believe

that their ethnicity and/or nationality has limited their employment opportunities. A cross tabulation with gender

of respondents indicates that there is very little difference between men and women for this type of

discrimination (20.5% for men and 18.6% for women).

Question 11: Do you feel safe while out and about on the Sunshine Coast?

A total of 85.4% of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed that they feel safe when out and about on the

Sunshine Coast. A significant proportion of respondents however do not feel as safe (14.7%).

35.6%

49.8%

10.3%

4.0%0.4%

Q11 - Feeling safe while out and about on the Sunshine Coast n=253

Strongly Agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree

79.4%

20.6%

Q10-Do you believe your ethnicity and/or natinality has limited your employment opportunities? n=252

No Yes


Question 12: Have you seen or experienced discrimination on ethnicity, culture or faith while living

on the Sunshine?;

Question 13: What was the discrimination in connection with?; and

Question 14: What has happened?

Forty percent of participants have experienced discrimination on the Sunshine Coast. For the respondents that

answered question 13 (102), discrimination has been primarily experienced within the workplace (38%),

through being socially excluded (35%) and when expressing cultural or religious practices (28% and 26%).

Discriminatory practices when accessing services like schooling, housing, public transport, health care and

legal rights are also of concern.

“On multiple occasions I have been verbally abused by strangers for my accent, sworn at and called derogatory names. I was also told to go home where I came from. These incidences occurred in public

places”

0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0%10.0%12.0%14.0%16.0%18.0%20.0%

Bullied/Racial discrimination at School

Mosque Protest

Discrimination based on skincolour/appearance

Discrimination in shops/Ignored

Denied work based on ethnicity/accent

Derogatory/racist remarks

Q14: Top Six Themes for Experiences of Discrimination n=58


Question 15: How do you make friends and socialise with the broader Sunshine Coast community?

Respondents identified private gatherings (47.6%) as the primary source of socialisation. Community events

(24%), volunteering (23%), social media (23%) and sport (19%) and community (14%) clubs also provide an

opportunity to make friends.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

Mothers Group

Neighbours

Buddies

Other activities with children

Events/Entertainment

Library

Adult Literacy Program

Life Beyond 30

Other (please specify)

Faith/Religious Meetings

School/College

Work

I don't

Community centre

Community club

Sports Club

Social media

Volunteering

Community events

Private gatherings

Q15- How do you make friends and socialise with the broader Sunshine Coast community? n=275

“We volunteered at Cancer Council, Aged Care, Meals on Wheels…its not friendly or welcoming, we feel like outsiders and not welcome if we are not local or not from the UK or

Ireland”


Question 16: How do you keep in touch with people from your ethnicity, culture or faith on the

Sunshine Coast?

Respondents kept in touch with each other predominantly through private gatherings and technology. Nearly

20% of participants also indicated they either don’t, can’t or haven’t kept in touch with people from their own

ethnicity, culture or faith. To a lesser degree some respondents have remained in contact through interest

groups, celebrations and community events.

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0%

Sports

Nightlife/Enterainment

Library

Family

Activities with Children

Univesity

Work

Seasonal Gatherings/celebrations

Community Events

Support/Interest Group

Other

Cultural Groups/Gatherings

Faith/Regious Meetings

Don't/Can't/Haven't

Facebook/Social Media/Phone

Friends/Social & private gatherings

Q16 - How do you keep in touch with people from your ethnicity, culture or faith on the Sunshine Coast? n=163

“I have found it difficult to ‘find’ my people here. But I know where they are in Brisbane and so I have found myself being drawn to Brisbane more than Sunshine Coast. Also the diversity is

not here so I go looking for it elsewhere”


Question 17: On the Sunshine Coast I feel a sense of belonging and inclusion?;

Question 18: In what ways do you feel excluded?; and

Question 19: What could be done to help you feel more included in the Sunshine Coast community?

Fifty nine percent of respondents either agreed or to a lesser degree strongly agreed there is a sense of

belonging and inclusion on the Sunshine Coast. Significantly, the remaining 41% were unsure or disagreed.

The latter group (79 respondents) were asked how they are feeling excluded. Forty eight percent reported

limited social interaction and 37.5% for both access to employment and limited economic opportunity as

reason for feeling excluded.

Of the 59 responses to question 19, the top suggestions for feeling more included were more multicultural

events and activities (22%) and greater cultural awareness in the community (20%).

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

Faith/Religion

Access to services

Location of home

Access to community events

Other

Language

Access to transport

Limited economic opportunity

Access to employment

Limited social interaction

Q18 - In what ways do you feel excluded on the Sunshine Coast? n=79

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%

Free/more language courses

Help meeting local people

Improved Transport/cheaper/increasedservices

Improved employment opportunities

Cultural Awarenss for the community

Multicultural events and activities

Q19: Top six themes for feeling more included in the Sunshine Coast community n=59

“Increase awareness and acceptance of other cultures through appropriate campaigns and messaging. “


Question 20: Gender and Question 21: Age

The majority of respondents were female 65%. Twenty eight percent were in the age group 36-45 years with

23% 46-55 years.

33.2%

65.0%

1.8%

Q20: Gender n-223

Male Female Not Stated

0.4% 2.7%

17.0%

28.3%

23.3%

15.2%

12.6%

Q21: Age Groups n=222

0-18 years 19-25 years 26-35 years 36-45 years

46-55 years 56-65 years over 65 years


Question 22: Where were you born?

Overall 57 different places of birth were recoded for this question. The top 9 are displayed in the graph

below. The majority of respondents were from predominantly English speaking countries 58.4% with the

balance of 41.6% from countries where English is not likely to be the first language.

Question 23: What is your cultural background?

Overall 38 different cultural backgrounds were recorded for this question. The top 10 responses are

displayed in the graph below. Fifty percent of the respondents come from anglo-celtic backgrounds with the

other 50% from a diverse range of European, Asian and African backgrounds. Of the respondents born in

Australia, 50.7% reported having multicultural ancestry.

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0%

Germany

Netherlands

Philippines

United States of America

Japan

South Africa

United Kingdom

New Zealand

Australia

Q22 - Where were you born? (top 9) n=209

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%

Chinese

Irish

Japanese

Philippines

New Zealand

South African

German

European

English

Australian

Q23 - What is your cultural background? (top 10) n=222


Question 24: What faith or religious belief do you identify with?

The majority of respondents identified with Christianity (52%). Twenty four percent do not identify with any

religion or faith and 3.4% identified with Islam or a blended belief/faith.

Question 25: Languages Spoken

Overall, 50 different languages were recorded with 47.1% of respondents speaking two or more languages.

The majority of respondents spoke English (90%), French was 12% followed by Spanish 11%, and German

8%.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

Aboriginal Australian

Agnostic

Pagan

Prefer not to answer

Rastafarian

Sikh Religion

Humanism

Buddist

Judaism

Blended Faith

Islam

Athiest

Spiritual

Don’t Identify with a religion

Christian

Q24-What faith or religious belief do you identify with? n=175

52.9%

27.9%

12.3%

4.4%

2.5%

Q25- Languages Spoken n=204

One Language Two Languages Three Languages Four Languages Five and More


Question 26: Which suburb and Question 27: Postcodes

Respondents participated in the online survey from 59 different suburbs across the

Sunshine Coast. Buderim recorded 12% of respondents with Caloundra 7.7%, Maroochydore 6.7% and

Sippy Downs and Coolum both 5.3%. The graph below displays the post codes which cover larger areas but

also clearly demonstrate the reach of the survey.

Question 28: How many years have you lived on the Sunshine Coast?

Twenty four percent of respondents have lived on the Sunshine Coast between one and five years, with just

5.8% having lived here for less than one year. A cross tabulation (below) with feelings of living on the

Sunshine Coast was performed to see if there was any relationship between the number of years lived on

the Sunshine Coast and feelings of not being happy. The proportions across feelings of being unsure and

unhappy to very unhappy are distributed fairly evenly across the time periods.

0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0% 16.0% 18.0% 20.0%

4518

4567

4553

4554

4519

4572

4559

4566

4575

4558

4560

4556

Q27 - Postcodes n=208

5.8%

24.1%

18.6%16.8%

12.4%

22.3%

Q28 - How many years have you lived on the Sunshine Coast? n=274

Under 1 year 1 - 5 years 5+- 10 years

10+-20 years More than 20 years No years provided


Question 29: Are you a permanent resident?

Overwhelmingly (90%), the majority of respondents were permanent residents

3.2 Group Conversations

It was important that participants in the group conversations felt at ease to contribute to the discussions to

raise issues, personal experiences and finally suggest solutions. For this reason the group conversations were

held in locations that were familiar to participants.

A series of eight group conversations were held at the following locations:

Sunshine Coast Council Adult Literacy

Program x 2

University of the Sunshine Coast

Maroochy Neighbourhood Centre Nambour Community Centre

Maleny Neighbourhood Centre Caloundra Community Centre

TAFE East Coast Adult Migrant English

Program

The conversations engaged over 50 multicultural participants originating from Asia, Europe, Africa, Pacific

Islands, Middle East, India, Central and South America.

During the Group Conversations, discrimination was prevalent in all aspects of the five engagement themes.

This was a significantly different result than the direct question asked in survey. Possible explanations for this

variance may lay with the fact that participants were allowed a deeper opportunity to form situational context

and the fact that the facilitator was able to explain to the participants what different forms of discrimination

could look like.

3.3 One-on-One Interviews

To truly discover the human stories behind the multicultural residents of the Sunshine Coast a series of one

on one interviews were held with 20 persons from widely diverse backgrounds. The aim of this was to highlight

the contribution of the interviewees to the local economy, community, arts, music and academic credentials of

the region, building a positive narrative around multiculturalism. The interviewees were identified though

partner networks, group conversations and word of mouth.

Years

lived on

the

Sunshine

Coast

How do you feel living on the Sunshine Coast?

Very happy Happy

Neither happy

nor unhappy Unhappy Very unhappy Total

Count % Count % Count % Count % Count 5

Under 1

year 9 56.3% 6 37.5% 1 6.3% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 16

1 - 5 years 35 53.0% 21 31.8% 7 10.6% 2 3.0% 1 1.5% 66

5+- 10

years 24 47.1% 22 43.1% 4 7.8% 1 2.0% 0 0.0% 51

10+-20

years 27 58.7% 16 34.8% 2 4.3% 1 2.2% 0 0.0% 46

more than

20 years 18 52.9% 12 35.3% 3 8.8% 1 2.9% 0 0.0% 34

No years

provided 29 47.5% 25 41.0% 6 9.8% 1 1.6% 0 0.0% 61

Total 142 51.8% 102 37.2% 23 8.4% 6 2.2% 1 0.4% 274


A series of questions was drafted to guide the conversations, but the format was flexible to encourage

storytelling.

Despite all interviewees expressing that they were extremely happy and felt at home on the Sunshine Coast,

the stories uncover a myriad of harsh experiences and ongoing efforts to turn trials into opportunities for

themselves and others. Persons reinventing themselves, retraining and making life changing leaps of faith

highlight the resilience of our multicultural community. The barriers and difficulties faced were often similar and

reaffirmed the five themes of the engagement plan.

Nearly all of the people interviewed had a reoccurring experience; their skills and experiences from their

country of origin were not recognized or relevant and so they had to innovatively create employment or

community positions to fit the Sunshine Coast job market.

The stories are an inmate window into the lives of multicultural people, some arrived here 60 years ago and

some that have only been here a few months.

Their journeys to Australia are all very different, some boarded a ship, boarded a plan and some tell of fleeing

from conflict.

The stories talk about love, sacrifice and homesickness, friendship and support and the local people of the

Sunshine Coast that made big differences in the lives of new arrivals.

All these stories represent Sunshine Coasts rich cultural and diversity.

All 20 stories have been recorded and transcribed and presented as short stories in the Multicultural

Conversations Booklet.

3.4 Video Stories

Of the 20 stories recorded in the one-on-one interviews, six were picked to create Video Stories which have

be utilized for promotion, positive messaging and streaming from affiliated websites.

The Video Stories were chosen on their potential to drive the message that multiculturalism brings social

cohesion and economic contributions. It was not an easy choice to select the Video Stories from all the

interviews. The criteria was to showcase diversity, community leadership and community building contributions

to help build a positive narrative around how a community benefits from diversity.

3.5 Multicultural Economy Focus Group

Local business, chambers, community centres, agencies, training providers and the university providers were invited to participate in a conversation to better understand our growing ‘human assets’ on the Sunshine Coast and help us come up with actions to better connect and utilise our multicultural assets in the global and local marketplace.

Considered the following objectives:

Is the business community aware of this skill and knowledge set, are they prepared or do they want to be actively engaged?

Have local Chambers and Industry Associations tapped into their members and communities to open up new markets and opportunities?

Can we take advantage of these skills as part of export programs, investment missions, marketing and promotion of the region to communities offshore in the digital world?

Can we leverage the skills, creativity, resilience and diversity of the domestic market?

Sunshine Coast Councils Economic Development Manager facilitated the conversation around the following questions.

1. Defining the Multicultural Economy, what is it and what can it achieve for our region?

2. How can a multicultural economy elevate the Sunshine Coasts economic performance?

3. Understanding our assets, who do we have, what is the skill-set, what are we already doing, what is our reach in Australia and overseas?

4. Competing on a global scale, how can we leverage our positioning on a global scale?

5. Local domestic market, what does this look like?


Adjunct Professor David Hollinsworth also provided a presentation on the sociological and economic findings of boosting local diversity globally.

For the minutes and an action plan identifying practical steps to ‘recognise and leverage’ our multicultural economy, please refer to Appendix E.

3.6 Sunshine Coast Multicultural Forum

Multicultural Conversations Forum was held on Friday 26 August, bringing together agencies, service

providers, community centres, faith and cultural groups, Federal, State and Local Government to exchange

information on advocacy roles, policies, plans and activities. Over 100 people attended.

The aim of the forum was to present the key findings of the Multicultural Conversations project around the

following five themes:

1. Health and wellbeing

2. Discrimination and racism

3. Economic opportunities

4. Education

5. Social inclusion and exclusion

Furthermore, to exchange information on current advocacy, policies and plans and move towards the

development of the Sunshine Coast Multicultural Action Plan.

The forum program included a morning session of inspirational speakers, including:

Professor Andrew Marcus presented the 2016 Scanlon Foundation Social Cohesion Report

Multicultural Affairs Queensland presented the Queensland Multicultural Recognition Act 2016 and

the Multicultural Policy and Action Plan

CEO Garry Page presented the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (ECCQ) and discussed

the role of ECCQ as the peak body, its services and plans to increase member engagement in

regional areas, including the Sunshine Coast.

Enda Cotter from Anti-discrimination Commission Queensland (ACDQ) talked about the ADCQ

strategy on the Sunshine Coast

Roberto Garcia, Community Development Officer from Toowoomba Regional Council shared their

journey towards building a successful cohesive community.

The afternoon workshop was a conscious shift in narrative - away from deliberating the issues - towards

seeking solutions. Participants were asked to respond to the key issues identified under the five key themes


with ideas for action, measurable outcomes, and suggestions for stakeholders and resourcing to assist in the

development of the Sunshine Coasts first Multicultural Action Plan.

Participants rotated through three themes of their choice spending 30mins at each table. The tables were

hosted by a chairperson and scribe who used an action plan template to capture responses.

3.7 Developing the Multicultural Action Plan

Project partners participated in four planning workshops on 11 August, 23 September, 7 October and 11

November.

During the first workshop project partners established expectations, benchmarked other multicultural action

plans, and developed a vision statement and some guiding principles to provide an implementation

framework for the plan.

The next two workshops involved clustering and condensing all engagement feedback and themes into

responding priority areas and actions. At this stage a Sunshine Coast Council Community Planning Officer

joined the process and became the author of the document.

A final workshop was conducted after the community showcase were community had provided feedback on

the draft plan and prioritise actions.

3.8 Community Showcase

Community Showcase was held on Saturday 22 October. The purpose of the showcase was to reconnect

with community members who had participated in the engagement process. Either through the survey, group

conversations or one-on-one interviews.

Key outcomes of the Multicultural Conversations project were presented and participants were invited to

provide feedback and prioritise actions in draft Multicultural Action Plan. Over 70 community representatives

attended.

3.9 Sector Mapping The aim of the sector mapping exercise was to identify:

Existing level of service delivery

Current and emerging community development projects, programs, activities and events

Strengths, gaps and opportunities within the multicultural sector

Provide a wider and deeper perspective of the multicultural sector and communities

The information will be used to:

Develop, strengthen and coordinate networks

Create an awareness of services and community development activities

Increase social inclusion

To update databases i.e. service providers, clubs, groups and organisations

Support advocacy agendas i.e. funding, policies, strategies etc.

Build capacity of the multicultural sector

Enable informed planning i.e. policy, community development, service provision etc.

Increase partnerships

Sharing information and resources


Two planning meetings with partners produced the sector mapping plan (Appendix G).

Implementation of the plan is still in progress 18 organisations have responded with 6 and possible more we

don’t know about yet to respond. We see this sector mapping work as ongoing.

4 Engagement Results Summary

The Multicultural Conversations engagement activities connected with a total of 672 people across the

Sunshine Coast, gathering comprehensive quantitative and qualitative data as well as community proposed

actions to inform the Sunshine Coast Multicultural Action Plan.

The survey worked well to get raw empirical data on the multicultural population residing on the Sunshine

Coast. In addition it captured opinions and responses from Australian born residents on multiculturalism in the

region and shone a light on their multicultural backgrounds.

The Group Conversations uncovered the underlining issues faced by the multicultural community and when

added to the challenges faced by living in a regional locality, the conversations highlighted strategic pathways

for policy review and development. The Group Conversations were an invaluable tool to hear what solutions

the multicultural population proposed to address the most prevalent issues. It was an exercise in community

dialogue, trust building and community development, as well as fact-finding.

The One on One Interviews succeeded in building the positive narrative and human stories around the

statistics. They gave the project a quality deliverable, The Multicultural Conversations Booklet and Video

Stories, adding a human dimension often neglected in policy centric projects.

5 Limitations

When conducting a survey, the ideal sample size for a population close to 300,000 is 384 (given a confidence

level of 95% and a confidence interval of 0.05). The number of respondents to the online survey was 275.

Unlike an interviewer administered survey that can direct the survey to the target population, the online survey

was open to the whole population of the Sunshine Coast. Efforts were made to encourage the multicultural

community to participate in the online survey or to complete a hard copy. The man objective of the survey was

to collect qualitative data as well as quantitative to add to the more in depth engagement activities. The

combined total of participants in the engagement activities was 672.

The questions in the online survey were not mandatory and respondents were able to skip question they did

not wish to answer. This resulted in some questions having a small proportion of responses.

Budgetary constraints limited the amount of social media online promotion for the survey.

Engagement with the Asian cohort was the most difficult and this was attributed to cultural barriers towards

policy discussion, probably discouraged in home countries. It was also noticed that some respondents and

participants did not want to be identified as critical of Council, State or Federal policies in case of retribution.

The multicultural community are mostly guarded and it may take a couple of meetings before enough trust is

built for a person to feel comfortable enough to share their real concerns. More time was required to build trust

with participants and this may have resulted in more participants in the group conversations. However, the

project partners all agree this is the start of the journey and we envision our action plan may include ongoing

conversation projects.

The large geographical spread of the Sunshine Coast also limited engagement opportunities for project staff

and participants. Many times people could not physically make it to activities utilizing public transport and even

if the Engagement Facilitator drove many kilometres to reach people, this had to be limited by her allocated

hours.

Multicultural Conversations Engagement Report 2017

Documents

Transcript of Multicultural Conversations Engagement Report 2017