By CASEY NEILL
A Greater Dandenong Multicultural Network in on the cards.
At the Monday 25 July Greater Dandenong Council meeting, Mayor Heang Tak successfully moved that the council investigate options for such a group and propose a format at the 12 September meeting.
He said the idea followed a mayoral forum at Dandenong Civic Centre on Friday 24 June titled Social Cohesion – Celebrating Multiculturalism in Greater Dandenong.
“The forum successfully promoted engagement and collaboration across multicultural communities to improve community wellbeing, harmony and prosperity,” he said.
Cr Tak said about 100 multicultural leaders and guests attended.
“Feedback received at the forum was overwhelmingly positive with the majority of participants responding that they would like to build on this success and continue to take part in ongoing dialogue with council,” he said.
“To continue this momentum, I request that consideration be given to the establishment of a Greater Dandenong Multicultural Network to enable ongoing dialogue by council with multicultural groups and community leaders.”
Cr Tak said the structure could be similar to the Greater Dandenong Interfaith Network, a group of diverse cultural and religious faiths established in 1989 to work with the council to promote peace and harmony within the municipality.
“We’re all passionate about multiculturalism in our city,” he said.
“It’s the fabric of our community here.”
Cr Matthew Kirwan said the network was “a great initiative” but questioned whether there’d be an opportunity at a councillor briefing session to discuss its membership and community engagement.
“I think there is a great opportunity for a multicultural network to, rather than develop a network of ‘insiders’, so to speak, in which network activities are not known by the vast majority of our residents, instead create a network whose activities are well known in the broader community and foster harmony and social inclusion,” he said.
