The Australian Women's Register

The Office of Multicultural Affairs aimed to:

• Promote acceptance of and respect for cultural differences;
• Improve communication between community groups and Government;
• Ensure equal access and equity for all groups to government services and programs, including health, social welfare, employment, training and education;
• Develop a National Agenda of practical long-term strategies for multiculturalism;
• Advise Government on multicultural programs and services after consultation with community groups;
• Provide information on multicultural policies.

The OMA’s first head, Peter Shergold, adopted the view that, as a bridgebuilder, the agency would be best served by appointing community workers to the regional coordinators’ positions. It is said that he believed that is was easier to teach community advocates how to be bureaucrats than it was to teach bureaucrats how to liaise with the community. This type of thinking led to Beryl Mulder being appointed to the position of Regional Coordinator for the Northern Territory. It also led to innovative programs, such as employing bilingual officers to run the OMA’s consultative programs. This meant that consultations could be managed in community languages, but reports could be written in English. This process resulted in a series of Policy Options Papers, many of which informed debate about access and equity to services for women of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.