CMY welcomes results of Victorian election; urges investment in young people
Victoria’s largest organisation supporting young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds, the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY), congratulates Daniel Andrews and welcomes the results of the 2022 Victorian state election.
Chief Executive Officer Carmel Guerra said it is now crucial that the Government utilises its third term in power as an opportunity to be truly progressive, and commits to greater support of young people across Victoria.
“Victoria leads the way in valuing and promoting multiculturalism as one of our greatest strengths. We now seek a commitment from the incoming government to listen to our young people and create strong policies so that they and their families can strengthen their sense of belonging and proudly contribute to Victoria’s multicultural community,” Ms Guerra said.
“The Government has shown the way with investments in Victoria’s mental health system and family violence over the past decade, and we call on the Government to now urgently prioritise tackling the youth justice system, particularly the issue of overrepresentation of young people from particular cultural backgrounds in the justice system.
“We will continue to lobby for policies which put multicultural young people on the agenda and ensure young people’s voices are shaping Victorian politics.
“We look forward to continuing to work with the incoming Government to advance these recommendations in the interests of young people across Victoria.”
Among CMY’s key priorities for investment are multicultural youth workers and mental health initiatives, addressing racism in local communities, investment in youth justice and crime prevention programs, and support for disadvantaged multicultural students’ education which has fallen behind due to Covid-19.
CMY urges the incoming government to prioritise youth issues over the next four years and is looking forward to working with the new Government in order to advance policies to support multicultural young people including:
CMY is calling for new investments in:
- Multicultural youth workers
- Addressing adolescent family violence
- Multicultural youth mental health
- Tackling racism in local communities
- Multicultural youth justice
- Strengthening diversity through sports initiatives
- Addressing Covid-19 and disrupted education
- A multicultural youth employment initiative.
CMY is also calling for the following programs to be sustained and/ or expanded:
- A CMY Centre of Excellence (CoE) and an embedded Innovative Futures Digital Centre
- The Pasifika young people project (Le Mana Pasifika Project)
- The Regional Presence Project (RPP)
- Centre for Multicultural Sport (CMSport)
- Refugee Education Support Initiatives
- The South Sudanese Community Support Group
- The Youth Referral and Independent Person Program (YRIPP)
- The Seat at the Table (SAT) program
ENDS
About Centre for Multicultural Youth: CMY is Australia’s largest organisation for migrant and refugee youth, providing specialist knowledge and support to young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds in Victoria.
MEDIA: Interviews with spokespeople can be organised by contacting Jackie Hanafie on 0493 393 416 or jackie.hanafie@humankindadvisory.com.