The Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia (FECCA), the peak body for multicultural Australia, is disappointed by the limited budget measures for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Multicultural communities expected more from this budget. The budget lacked whole of government response to multicultural communities' needs.
FECCA CEO, Mohammad Al-Khafaji said, "We were expecting that the numerous lessons learned from the pandemic would have resulted in greater investment in Australia's multicultural communities, not just in health but across whole of government. Whilst there are some targeted measures in health, it is disappointing that so many Portfolio Budget Statements are silent on initiatives supporting our communities.
"This has been another missed opportunity for a consistent and coherent whole of government approach to multiculturalism and we must do better. This is not a budget for a multicultural Australia.
FECCA is also deeply disappointed by the lack of budget measures in Aged Care to:
- Improve wages and conditions for the aged care workforce; a significant proportion of workers are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- Fund language service support for multicultural older Australians
"We are disappointed that increased wages and improved working conditions for aged care workers, easily half of whom are from our multicultural communities, are not addressed in the budget.
"We look forward to working with government to address these major gaps." said Mr. Al-Khafaji.
