Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I wish to thank the Minister for the update he has just provided on the ACT Multicultural Framework’s first action plan, 2015–2018. As the Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs, I have frequently been asked about the progress in implementing the specific actions that were committed to under this action plan. As a consequence, in August this year, I moved a motion calling on the ACT Government to provide detailed and frank reporting on the pro

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank Ms Lee for bringing this very important motion before the Assembly. I rise today to speak in vigorous support of it. I speak as a mother of five children who are all enrolled in the territory’s public schools. I also rise as a bilingual Australian – one who, like nearly 24 per cent of Canberrans – grew up using a language other than English at home. My husband spent his earliest years in the Netherlands, where, naturally, he spoke Dutch b

The Charter of Rights for Young People in Bimberi is failing to keep kids safe from violence, Shadow Minister for Families, Youth and Community Services Elizabeth Kikkert said. Since Youth Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith introduced the Charter in answer to serious allegations of systemic violence, the number of assaults have tripled and the use of force has doubled. In 2017-18 there were 19 assaults and 178 incidents where force was used. The number of operational lockdowns sur

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Although Africa is sometimes mistakenly thought of as a single country, it is actually the world’s second largest continent, in both area and population. The landmass is characterised by great diversity in both geography and people. To give just one example, its 1.2 billion inhabitants speak more than 1,500 languages. These numbers are matched by Africa’s cultural diversity. Canberra is fortunate to have a growing population of residents who were bor