The positive contribution of ethnic communities in building sustainable cities and towns was the focus of the seminar hosted by ACCORD at UTS on 4 September. The highly successful event garnered widespread media attention and was attended by representatives of many ethnic community organisations; federal, state and local government departments, planners, social workers, multicultural workers, policy advisors; not-for-profit businesses, academics and politicians.

Professor Jock Collins, UTS

Media coverage included an interview with Walter Lalich, on the key findings of his doctoral research into Ethnic Community Capital Building in Sydney, conducted by the SBS TV news team in attendance and aired on the evening news.

ABC's Bush Telegraph program conducted a live interview with Professor of Geography at the University of NSW, Ian Burnley.

Radio 2 SER FM's, breakfast program interviewed Professor Jock Collins and SBS, Radio's Today's News and other Ethnic Radio stations broadcast excerpts from an interview with Walter Lalich.

The event was covered by a number of community newspapers, the Glebe and Inner City News and the Hills Shire Times ran special reports on the issues discussed. UTS Online News – carried a full report by Terry Clinton on 12 September.

To view the media release see: Migrants’ billion dollar investment in Sydney [PDF - 20Kb].

Summary of guest Speaker presentations:

Opening address by Professor Rob Lynch, Dean, Faculty of Business, UTS
Click here for full opening speech.

Stepan Kerkyasharian, Chairman, Community Relations Commission of NSW, in his presentation titled “Ethnic Communities, community relations, and community development in NSW” outlined the role of the State in the development of communities. A Green Paper titled Cultural harmony in the next decade, recently published by the Commission, expands on the 1996 White Paper - Building on our cultural diversity, prepared by the Ethnic Affairs Commission. Mr Kerkyasharian emphasised that although ethnic communities have differences, they are all Australian and should be treated equally and this objective has been driving the NSW Government policy in the past three years. The aims are to develop leadership; community harmony; access and equity; and economic and cultural opportunities, within ethnic communities.

Stepan Kerkyasharian, Chair Community Relations Commission, NSW

Professor Ian Burnley, Visiting Professor of Geography, University of NSW, provided a historical and contemporary overview of ethnic communities in Australian cities and towns. He outlined the geographical patterns in ethnic communities’ contributions to the development of Australia, and questioned whether the walls between ethnic communities and mainstream Australia really had come tumbling down. Professor Burnley believes that a tendency to label some suburbs as ‘ghettos’ and the political debates around immigration had affected Australia’s overseas image. He suggested that serious re-thinking of Governmental attitudes is needed to take advantage of the cultural diversity seen in Australia.

A research report by Walter Lalich, an ACCORD Associate, titled Ethnic community capital in Sydney, was launched and Mr Lalich outlined some key findings. He said that often religious institutions took a lead in community development, especially as such organisations catered to ‘needs of soul’. The generation of social capital came through the collective needs, in the areas of education, aged care and sports and religion.

Hurriyet Babacan, Executive Director, Community Outcomes Branch, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Queensland Government spoke on ethnic diversity and community development in Queensland and outlined the new strategies and initiatives undertaken there. She emphasised the need to create a sense of place and of identity and belonging among migrant communities to maximise social participation and to develop ethnic community networks, social capital and infrastructure. Defining Social Exclusion as a multi-dimensional disadvantage which severs individuals and groups from the major social processes and opportunities in society, Ms Babacan outlined the consequences of social exclusion, including:

• lack of attention, respect, sympathy or understanding towards minority, and
• negative stereotyping.

Ms Babacan described the Community Capacity Index - a collection of characteristics and resources which improve the ability of a community to recognise, evaluate and address key issues. She cited examples from Queensland where resources such as network partnerships, problem-solving skills and infrastructure had resulted in communities developing and being prominent in industries such as agriculture, sugar and banana industries.

Professor Ian Burnley, University of NSW

In conclusion, she said that ethnic communities have positively contributed to the Australian physical and social environment. The facilitating factors had been the communities’ ability to overcome social exclusion and developing internal capacity to empower themselves. The result had been a sense of belonging and identity leading to communities building sustainable cities and towns.

Councillor Maire Sheehan, Mayor of Leichhardt, provided a local government perspective on Ethnic communities building better suburbs. She recounted how Italian migrants engaged in business in Leichhardt, developed a popular and widely known identity for the area. Although the second generation has moved out of the area and the demography has changed, the businesses remain, sustaining the positive contribution made through the years.

Dr Branka Krivokapic-Skoko, Senior Research Fellow, ACCORD and CSU described the ethnic communities settlements in rural areas of New Zealand and provided details of different clusters of communities. The economic and social development has been positive with the areas growing and industries thriving.

At the conclusion of the seminar, proposals and expressions of interest in new research partnerships were invited by Professor Collins. Some of the areas he suggested were: the value/benefits of ethnic communities being merged into main-stream society and the class structures within ethnic communities.