Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to replace immigration minister Andrew Giles with Tony Burke has garnered mixed responses from peak multicultural bodies such as Independent Multicultural Media Australia (IMMA) and the Federated Ethnic Communities Council of Australia (FECCA).
Andrew Giles will now move on from immigration and oversee the skills portfolio.
Carlo Carli, the FECCA chair, commended Giles’s “strong commitment to active collaboration with migrant, refugee, and culturally diverse communities during his time in the portfolio”.
“Minister Giles supported a grass-roots-driven national conversation that set a crucial milestone in defining multicultural Australia”, Carli said.
Carli welcomed Burke and said, “Minister Burke brings a deep understanding of the challenges in communities and the need to work collaboratively to create policies that reflect and support a multicultural Australia.”
FECCA reminded Burke of the landmark work carried out by Giles and said it “looked forward to Burke’s strong leadership in collaborating with community stakeholders in the lead-up to implementing the recommendations of the Multicultural Framework Review Report”.
In a media statement released by FECCA, Carli also underscored Peter Khalil’s work as the new Special Envoy for Social Cohesion, Assistant Minister Thistlethwaite, and Assistant Minister Hill.
“FECCA looks forward to broad migration and settlement policy reforms to build a strong foundation to support our multicultural nation’s diversity, inclusion, and economic prosperity”.
Fotis Kapetopoulos, the Secretary of IMMA, also praised the work of outgoing minister Giles and emphasised the “excellent work in the Towards Fairness: Multicultural Framework Review,” which was released last week.
“It has been 50 years, half a century since such a comprehensive consultation and review of multicultural policy has been carried out, and Minister Giles ought to be proud of the report and the panel who led the good work,” Kapetopoulos said.
The IMMA Secretary also underscored that Towards Fairness: Multicultural Framework Review “actually took independent multicultural media seriously.”
Kapetopoulos welcomed Minister Burke as “highly skilled” and someone who “brings to the portfolio much experience.”
“Minister Burke is very adept, and we look forward to working with him in ensuring that some of the key aspects of support for IMMA, and the whole independent multicultural media ecology are maintained in focus.”
Kapetopoulos also said Peter Khalil and Julian Hill are “highly competent members of the Albanese government”.
“Peter Khalil—the son of migrants—knows multiculturalism and is keenly aware of the challenges that we as multicultural media face and the critical role we play in maintaining Australia’s social cohesion.
“Julian Hill has been ensconced in diversity, both of them are in seats that can claim to be some of the most diverse in Australia,” the secretary of IMMA said.
