Finally, some progress
Working with community groups and government grants I tend to keep a close eye on the movements of all state government departments.
The Northern Territory has always had an Office for Ethnic Affairs. Whilst it may seem like petty semantics, the use of the term ‘ethnic’ is rather dated – some may say by 30 years. The term ‘multicultural’ is a much more appropriate word. Ethic implies a first generation immigrant and overlooks the children of these immigrants, and their children for that matter. It’s these second and third generation people, who still identify with their ethnic origins as well as Australia, along with the first generation immigrants that work towards the beautiful mosaic (as opposed to melting pot) that is Australia’s multiculturalism.
So I applaud the Northern Territory government (who look likely to have an ALP government be reinstated this weekend) for finally having an Office of Multicultural Affairs replacing the Office of Ethnic Affairs.