Building our cultural roadmap

Published on 29 August 2023

Council is seeking feedback on its first ever Intercultural Strategy designed to build a culturally rich roadmap for the municipality for the future.

With nearly 40% of our population born overseas, Maribyrnong has long been recognised as a multicultural city with many cultures, beliefs, and faiths.

The draft Strategy seeks to build on this - empowering our community and promoting learning, dialogue and relationships between cultures - while also including ways we can better connect, share and grow together.

We already know our community’s acceptance of diverse culture is high with 60% of residents surveyed in 2018 believing it makes life better and Mayor, Councillor Sarah Carter, hopes this will translate into wide and diverse participation during the current engagement on the draft document.

“Culture exists in all of us. From the way we look, where we come from, our family, the language we speak, and our beliefs, we each have a story that shapes Maribyrnong. That’s why it is important to ensure every voice is reflected.”

But, she added “for that to happen we need to hear from individuals and groups from across our diverse communities. So please take this opportunity to share your vision for a culturally rich future and the ways you think we can be involved in helping learn and share stories with others.”

Council is committed to facilitating the development of our municipality as an ‘intercultural city’ that promotes inclusivity and diversity and began the journey to develop an intercultural strategy as part of its part membership of the Council of Europe's Intercultural Cities Programme.

The draft Intercultural Maribyrnong Strategy 2023/2026 outlines the guiding principles, key themes, objectives, and proposed actions to support its implementation.

The community can view the draft and discover ways to share comments at: yourcityyourvoice.com.au/intercultural

Feedback closed midnight Sunday 8 October.

 Maribyrnong News

Stay up-to-date with the latest news by subscribing to our eNews.