Introduction

In 1996, the Government conducted a comprehensive review of ethnic affairs in NSW. That review resulted in the incorporation of the Principles of Cultural Diversity in legislation, and the development of the Ethnic Affairs Action Plan 2000.

The Principles of Cultural Diversity

The four principles of cultural diversity are:

1. All individuals in New South Wales should have the greatest possible opportunity to contribute to, and participate in, all levels of public life.
   
2. All individuals and public institutions should respect and accommodate the culture, language and religion of others within an Australian legal and institutional framework where English is the primary language.
   
3. All individuals should have the greatest possible opportunity to make use of and participate in relevant activities and programs provided or administered by the government of New South Wales.
   
4. All public institutions of New South Wales should recognise the linguistic and cultural assets in the population of New South Wales as a valuable resource and promote this resource to maximise the development of the State.

• social justice;
• community harmony; and
• economic and cultural opportunities.

• prepare an annual Ethnic Affairs Priorities Statement;
• report to the Ethnic Affairs Commission on their ethnic affairs achievements; and
• report on these achievements in their Annual Report to Parliament

• ensure that service delivery, policy and planning processes and management decisions reflect the cultural diversity of our customers;
• continue to improve our standards of service delivery by consulting with key stake holders and encouraging client participation via our customer councils, community committees, public consultation meetings and client surveys;
• improve communication between the Department and its clients by providing access to our bi-lingual staff, professional interpreter services and our Language Link Resource Kit;
• educate the community about the justice system by participation in community forums and through the provision of information through community groups, organisations and the media;
• ensure that staff are trained in client service skills including cross cultural communication; and
• keep our clients informed of important developments or changes to the legal system by:
  • translating key information concerning specific community groups into the language spoken by those groups;
    presenting information in a format that is culturally relevant to those groups; and
  • promoting this information via the ethnic media as required.

• demonstrate a knowledge of the Principles of Cultural Diversity and the Department's Ethnic Affairs Priorities Statement (EAPS); and
• demonstrate an understanding of how to implement the Principles of Cultural Diversity.