Ms BURNET – We have 20 minutes to talk about multicultural communities, which is farcical to be honest.
My first question is, when will the government have a dedicated multicultural minister? This was a very important question that came up during the election campaign. Mr Willie will remember some of the community forums we went to. It is important for our multicultural community to be recognised. When will the government have a minister for multicultural communities?
Mr JAENSCH – Welcome, Ms Burnet, to the committee. I agree our multicultural communities are very important. I take my responsibilities for them in this area, as Minister for Community Services, very seriously. We don’t have 20 minutes to discuss this; we’ve had an hour and a half and we’ve been here since 9 a.m. I reject that we’re downplaying this area by not giving it enough time.
That being said, the questions of how the Premier assigns portfolio responsibilities is one of those things that is for the Premier alone to decide. I trust you’ve raised the issue with him. We’ve certainly received correspondence from you and others promoting the need for a standalone portfolio minister for this area. That’ll continue to be a matter for the Premier to consider.
In the meantime, I can assure you and our multicultural and culturally and linguistically diverse community in Tasmania that I am deeply committed to being a very effective minister for them and on their behalf. My door’s open to them. I look forward to engaging with them and understanding their needs and the contributions that they make to our community, which are highly valued. I’ll do my very best with or without a formal title of being minister for multicultural Tasmanians.
Ms BURNET – My second question is in relation to a reduced funding arrangement or certainly reduced funding the Diwali Festival committee is being provided this year. I believe their festival funding was lumped in with another festival.
Mr WILLIE – The Chinese festival.
Ms BURNET – Thanks Mr Willie.
I want to to point out their distress. They’re holding their festival this year in PW1 and, while PW1 has a special rate for not‑for‑profits or organisations such as this committee, essentially their costs to bump in and out and to have a day festival is $37,000. It’s not cheap – and it raises concerns how any not‑for‑profit organisation will be able to have something at any proposed Macquarie Point stadium because I don’t reckon they’ll be able to afford to hire that. I’m wondering what you can tell the Diwali organising committee as to how you might help them. I did raise this with Madeleine Ogilvie in a text recently, concerned about what might be happening in her electorate, but also with some of her interest in the area.
Mr JAENSCH – Thank you. It’s fantastic to see celebrations like Diwali – or Deepavali, depending on who you speak to – growing and expanding. More strength to their arm. I understand they’re also supported by the council and others. We have an allocation in the Budget towards supporting the festival – $5000 a year out to 2025‑26. We also understand that the festival has grown and that they have chosen to go to PW1, which has a different cost structure for them to be involved with. I understand that my office is in the process of arranging a meeting for me with them next week, and we’ll have a talk through what they’re planning to do and how we can assist that. The choice of venue, however, and the costs that come with that is the organiser’s choice. We want them to succeed, obviously. We have a contribution that we announced in the Budget, but I’m always happy to talk to them about their plans for the future.
Ms BURNET – Could I have an update after you’ve had that meeting? As multicultural spokesperson for the Greens, I’d appreciate that.
Mr JAENSCH – Yes.
Ms BURNET – Thank you. They want to be as independent from government as possible. It’s only these first few years that they want to have this support, but $5000, quite frankly, is well below what you’d expect for this kind of thing.
