Jewish voice on top council
TOP Jewish community advocate Peter Wertheim is one of 10 eminent individuals appointed to the Gillard Government’s new Australian Multicultural Council.
TOP Jewish community advocate Peter Wertheim is one of 10 eminent individuals appointed to the Gillard Government’s new Australian Multicultural Council.
While the specific objectives of the new council are still being formulated, Wertheim said he anticipated working closely with the Government to help fulfil its multicultural policy.
“I expect our engagement with government will be varied and through a number of forms, such as submissions, meetings with ministers and briefings,” he said. “Being a member of the council offers me a great opportunity to provide frank advice to government on multicultural affairs and policy.”
Other representatives appointed to the council include Dr Tanveer Ahmed, a psychologist and newspaper columnist of Bangladeshi origin; executive director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation Dr Hass Dellal; and director of the Centre for Muslim States and Societies Professor Samina Yasmeen.
When asked how the Jewish community, which numbers less than one per cent of the Australian population, ended up represented on the prestigious committee, Wertheim responded, “All members of the council were appointed based on merit and recommended by an independent panel. Members of the council have diverse backgrounds and I think we all bring something different to the newly established council.”
In announcing the make-up of the council at Parliament House on Monday, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said: “Our new council will ensure multiculturalism lives in the heart of government.
“Multiculturalism is the word that we use to capture our love of the things that bind us together and our respect for the diversity that enriches us,” the Prime Minister added.
“A concept caught so well by the words schoolchildren sing: ‘We are one but we are many.’ A fierce determination that we share opportunity and we don’t leave anyone behind.”
Speaking in more concrete terms, Wertheim said the role of the council, which will be chaired by South Australian District Court judge Rauf Soulio, would include strengthening the Government’s access and equity strategy, playing a research and advisory role for public policy, including the national Anti-Racism Strategy, and leading cultural diversity celebrations.
On Monday, Gillard announced the Australian Multicultural Council will be advised by 40 yet-to-be-announced ambassadors, who will provide “grassroots advice” to the council.
NAOMI LEVIN
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