Queensland Councils, along with many Councils in other States and countries, are illustrating how Local Government is an ideal place to positively influence community relations. Queensland has been leading the way through the development of the Local Area Multicultural Partnership (LAMP) program.
The Local Area Multicultural Partnership initiative commonly referred to as LAMP is an innovative and award winning program of the Queensland Government in partnership with the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) and local government.
LAMP was first established in 1998 and is designed as a partnership strategy aimed at creating harmonious and cohesive community relations appropriate for our diverse society.
The key objective of LAMP is to promote positive community relations across the whole community and to facilitate improved levels of access to services, planning and consultation by diverse interest groups within the community. LAMP works towards these objectives by supporting the leadership role of local governments in managing community relations.
The program is funded through Multicultural Affairs Queensland in the Department of Communities and sits as a strategy under the Multicultural Queensland Policy.
LAMP entered its third term of funding on 1 July 2009 with a team of 14 LAMP Funded Workers including 13 motivated and highly skilled workers placed within councils throughout the state, as well as a LAMP Coordinator based at the LGAQ.
Migrants & Refugees
Local Government is increasingly involved in welcoming migrants and/or refugees, either as a Council that has a large number of migrants or refugees settling in their area (such as Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Cairns and Townsville) or as a regional or rural Council interested in attracting skilled migrants to increase population levels and/or to fill shortages in workforce skills that are not able to be filled within Australia.
Governments at all levels in Australia are currently exploring the potential of settling greater numbers of migrants and some humanitarian entrants to Australia in regional and rural areas.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship provides a wide range of resources and settlement information online. Booklets on Beginning a Life in Australia are available in 37 languages. Of particular interest is the Local Government page covering case studies of Council activities nationally, the 2004 Strengthen Diversity Local Government Award and relevant cultural diversity statistics.
The Strength in Diversity Award is the National Award for Local Government for the category of community capacity building in the field of cultural diversity. It recognises local initiatives that respond to, promote and/or harness benefits arising from migration, settlement, Australian citizenship, and our cultural diversity.
The Local Government Association of Queensland has launched Settling Migrants: A Guide for Queensland Local Government. The online guide which can be viewed on LG Online was developed in collaboration with the Federal and Queensland State Governments. It is designed to provide assistance to Councils and communities wishing to attract and settle migrants in their communities.
