Resources to support Indigenous service provision

Understanding cultural diversity

It is now generally accepted, by government and social institutions, that Australia is a multicultural society. Put simply, this is taken to mean that contemporary Australian society is culturally and ethnically diverse.  This means that there is a need for sensitivity within organisations for cross-cultural issues. The issues of cultural diversity are both subtle and complex. Understanding how your organisation can better respond to cultural diversity could provide benefits to your clients, members and the organisation as a whole as well as help you to meet your legal responsibilities and obligations to funding bodies. 

An important step in responding to cultural diversity is to first understand what it means.   Cultural diversity is often used to describe differences in language, beliefs, customs and/or religion within the broader community.  These differences may also occur within communities where different ethnic groups from the same country or region of origin may have a distinct language, religion and/or religious beliefs.  In Queensland there are more than 200 cultures, 150 languages spoken and approximately 100 religious beliefs.

The 2006 census figures provide a more detailed overview of Queensland’s cultural diversity.  Nearly 18 per cent of the population or 699,445 people were born overseas and 33 per cent of Queenslanders or 1,593,803 people have one or both parents born overseas.  English is not always the main language spoken at home and nearly 13.6 per cent of people speak a language other than English in Queensland.

Communities and individuals migrate to Queensland under a number of different categories including business, skill, family reunion and humanitarian programs.  For categories such as business and skill programs, migrants may have significant financial resources and high levels of education.  Migrants who arrive under humanitarian programs generally have limited resources, may not have family support and might have experienced war or other trauma.  While all migrants go through a process of adaptation and settlement in a new country, humanitarian immigrants, especially those from significantly different cultures, may face greater challenges than other immigrants.

Immigrants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD) may be reluctant to access government and community services, including those that may assist their settlement, because of certain barriers.  Communication barriers could include language difficulties, the way that information is presented and distributed and the use of jargon.  Institutional barriers such as processes for accessing services and service delivery that is not culturally sensitive may also deter people from CALD communities.  Some individuals from CALD groups may experience trust issues based on confidentiality issues, previous experience of authority and perceptions of community organisations. 

The Victorian Department of Human Services identifies that promoting and recognizing cultural diversity entails four key elements:

Increasing awareness and understanding of cultural diversity might help your organisation improve relationships with management committee members and staff, other agencies as well as the wider community. By encouraging broad participation that includes culturally and linguistically diverse communities, your organisation might be able to improve the quality of services and the way that they are delivered. 

For organisations that are funded by the Department of Communities or other government agencies, responding to cultural diversity might be a requirement of your service agreement.  The Standards for Community Services outline how funded organisations make themselves accessible to the people who use, or may need to use, the services or activities that they provide with specific reference to cultural inclusivity.

An understanding of cultural diversity is also an important factor in complying with Commonwealth and State legislation.  The Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act 1986 prohibit discrimination on the basis of several factors including race, colour, religion, national extraction or political beliefs in the conduct of business and employment practices.

The Multicultural Queensland Policy provides further guidelines for the public sector that may also be relevant to community service organisations.  The policy promotes the economic and cultural benefits of diversity, ensuring access to services and programs, assisting community development and participation and promoting community relations and cohesion. 

Finding out more about cultural diversity, especially within your local community, will help your organisation to decide how it can be more inclusive and responsive.

Collecting data about cultural diversity

Although your organisation will probably have a detailed understanding of the needs of existing clients you may need to find out more about other members of your community, especially those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Your organisation can find out about the cultural diversity of your community in a number of different ways.  A good place to begin your research is by collecting statistical data about cultural diversity in the geographic areas relevant to your community.  Wherever possible you should first try and define your community of interest then find the appropriate data within your geographic boundaries to obtain an accurate snapshot of that community.

Your local Council might be able to provide local community profiles and government departments, such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Multicultural Affairs Queensland, the Queensland Treasury, and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship are also good sources of information.

While statistics will give you information such as country of birth, proficiency in English, religion and languages spoken, you will probably want to know more about these groups and even the diversity within each group.  Multicultural Affairs Queensland will be able to provide additional information and contact details for other organisations that may be able to assist further.

Organisations such as the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland and the Multicultural Development Association might be able to provide further information about local community organisations and organisations working with these communities in other areas.  You might also want to read some of the numerous publications available through these organisations about other relevant research.

Interpreting cultural diversity information

After your initial research you will have a good understanding about some aspects of the cultural diversity of your community.  You might now know approximate numbers of local people from culturally and linguistically diverse background and general information about their language, their religion and their English language proficiency. You might also have found out about other multicultural or ethnic-specific organisations working with certain communities.  

The next stage of your research might involve finding out more about these communities to determine if and how your organisation can respond to their needs.  You might first want to ask for information and advice from relevant multicultural and ethnic specific organisations, and/or local government staff working in this area about how to consult with these communities.

It might be appropriate to meet with community leaders before talking to other members of the community to get a broad range of views across the community.  It is important to ensure that whoever you consult with is able to be actively involved in the process.  Establishing good relationships in the beginning will help you to consult and may make it easier to work together later.

The consultation stage of your research will help you to interpret the data that you have collected and fill in some of the gaps.  Migrants and refugees arrive in Australia under several government programs that have a business, skill, family reunion or humanitarian focus.  Different communities and even different individuals within a community might have significantly different experiences and backgrounds.

You will need to be clear from the outset about the reasons why you want to consult with these communities.  It might be to determine whether your organisation could work with an existing organisation and/or provide more culturally appropriate services.

Developing a better understanding of diverse communities and their differing needs, values and backgrounds will help your organisation to engage with them more successfully in a way that suits their needs and ensures that you remain responsive.

Further information:

Last updated 2008-01-31