CEO message: Referendum & driving inclusion through sport
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week announced that the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum will be held on Saturday 14 October.
In the Referendum, Australian voters will be asked to answer this question with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’:
“A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”
CMY supports the “Yes” campaign. We wholeheartedly support the Uluru Statement from the Heart recommendations calling for Voice, Treaty, and Truth. We believe that the first recommendation of a Voice to Parliament is both a meaningful and empowering step towards Australia’s First Nations peoples having a say in the matters that affect them.
I encourage you all to take the opportunity to attend a community information session (available in a range of languages) to help you understand the Referendum process or learn more about its importance at the links below.
Our colleagues from MYAN have been working with the Uluru Statement from the Heart Youth Dialogue, UNICEF Australia and the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, to deliver the Hands on Heart National Youth Voice Conference.
Held last week, the conference brought together 100+ diverse young advocates from a range of multicultural and multifaith backgrounds to ‘Educate, Activate and Connect’ about the Voice to Parliament, in a safe and empowering space. Read more from MYAN.
Driving inclusion through sport
Minister for Community Sport Ros Spence today announced new funding for inclusive sport and recreation initiatives, as part of the Victorian Government’s Together More Active program.
We’re delighted to be among the successful recipients, with Centre for Multicultural Sport (CMSport) receiving funding to develop a strategy aimed at reducing incidents of racism in community sport. This project will be delivered in partnership with Koorie Heritage Trust and seven Victorian State Sporting Associations.
The new project is part of our ongoing commitment through our Reconciliation Action Plan, to build partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and strengthen connections between multicultural and First Nations communities – working together to address systemic issues of political and social exclusion, economic disadvantage, and health inequality.
It was incredible to watch as football fever took over the country this month, with women’s sport in the spotlight at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023.
We’ve been reflecting on how the world game unites people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Through our work, we have seen what a powerful vehicle it can be to promote social cohesion and build connections to the local community for newly-arrived young people and their families.
The World Cup has highlighted the importance of having young multicultural women like Matildas stars Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler as role models. They have inspired a new generation of young players from diverse backgrounds, some of whom are seeing young women like themselves represented in mainstream sport for the first time.
CMSport recently partnered with Vicsport to deliver a forum aimed at Engaging Multicultural Women and Girls in Sport. Read the recap here or reach out to the CMSport team if you’d like to explore how we can support your work in this space.
An Australian Research Council funded project CMY has been involved in with Monash University since 2019 has just published its latest report, Informal sport as a health and social resource. It illustrates how ‘participation in informal sport is hugely beneficial to participants and their communities when it comes to delivering on social, health and economic outcomes’. Read more about the project here.
Carmel Guerra OAM
Chief Executive Officer