Multicultural alliance heads to Canberra

THE Regional Multicultural Alliance Victoria (RMA Vic) has made a big impression in Canberra, raising significant awareness of issues facing regional Victoria around sustainable funding for organisations supporting multicultural communities.

The delegation at Parliament House in Canberra was led by Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, alongside senior advisors and 13 MPs from all parties.

The purpose of the visit was to advocate and highlight regional-specific challenges for people living in rural and regional areas such as access to services, employment and infrastructure.

Cultura is part of the alliance, and Cultura chief executive officer Joy Leggo was one of many representatives to make the trip to the Australian capital.

She said there was a pressing need for a sustainable, place-based funding model to ensure communities were not left behind.

“The current distribution of multicultural funds disproportionately favours entities with broad mandates, such as local governments, public health agencies, and community health providers; while these organisations have important roles, their wide scope dilutes their focus on regional multicultural needs.

“To rectify current funding disparities, we proposed to Parliament, an innovative funding model consisting of Need-Based Funding with targeted funding mechanisms.

“This approach supports the Victorian Government’s Anti-Racism Strategy, which emphasises flexible, targeted interventions for multicultural communities.”

Ms Leg