Multiculturalism

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (14:50): My question is to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. How is the Malinauskas Labor government showcasing multiculturalism in South Australia?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:50): I thank the member for Light for his support of our multicultural communities; in fact, many of the people in the caucus support me to attend the many events we get invited to, and I thank them very much for their support.

We are committed to making South Australia a place that is inclusive to live, work and thrive. We know that in Australia 50 per cent of us are either born overseas or have a parent born overseas, so multiculturalism is us. We want to make sure that we can continue to acknowledge that, recognise it and celebrate it. Coming to government, we made a substantial additional commitment to multicultural affairs of $16 million over four years.

One of those commitments was to make the Multicultural Festival an annual festival. I am so thrilled to say that we had the biggest Multicultural Festival attendance of all time: 10,200 attended on Sunday 12 November. We showcased 55 cultures across 29 performances, 13 activities and 35 stalls. It is an opportunity, a free community event, for people to come along to see new, emerging and established communities, to share their culture and invite people in to talk about what is important to them for their traditions in a safe, positive and family-friendly setting.

We had a special addition this year, the inclusion of the Community Language Schools SA performance on stage, as well as various engagement activities. As we have spoken about in the house, we have 99 community language schools teaching our young people more than 47 languages, but they had never been as included as they were at this Multicultural Festival. We had a wonderful opportunity, a rap, for them to talk about how important it is to speak different languages, particularly as we connect. We are very much an exporting country. We want to continue to sell ourselves to the world, therefore having a second language is incredibly helpful when we do that.

I am really pleased to have worked with the Assistant Minister for Autism, the Hon. Emily Bourke from the other place, to improve the inclusivity of this annual event. This year, we supported the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower, which provided a sensory space for those that need a quiet break from the vibrant displays. It was a very busy atmosphere at Victoria Square. A lot of people came and went throughout the day. They enjoyed the free performances that we had.

We also had quite a few government departments there, taking the opportunity to engage with people who were there. SA Police, of course, are encouraging diversity in their recruitment practices. SA Health were there as well, talking to people about immunisation, vaccinations and also about the supported health proactive testing that we have across many different ways.

To the credit of the opposition, in 2021, this festival was moved to Victoria Square from Rundle Mall. I have to say that that move was a good move, and when I attended in 2021 that convinced me—supported by the team here—to make this an annual festival. It was a wonderful event. We were able to bring people together. I have had many emails, text messages and people coming up to me to say how much they enjoyed it and that they can't wait to participate again next year.