Welcoming Cities is about to conclude its third calendar year, and we have much to celebrate and consider. A conversation and idea, sparked by the Scanlon Foundation and carried by Welcome to Australia, is now a national network of 26 local councils representing more than 3.5 million people (15 percent … Read More
The Enterprising Program
The Enterprising Program is a community strengthening and employment generation project piloted in Wyndham City in Melbourne. The program stimulates and nourishes the start-up environment. It unearths business talent, targeting residents with well-developed business ideas or existing early-stage businesses. These emerging entrepreneurs participate in a 14-week Business Start-up Intensive (BSI) … Read More
Register Now for Symposium 2019
On the 2nd & 3rd of April 2019, the 4th Welcoming Cities Symposium will convene in Brisbane at the redeveloped Howard Smith Wharves. The event will bring together international, national and local practitioners, policy-makers, researchers, business innovators and civic leaders to share and discuss the challenges, benefits and opportunities of … Read More
Australia’s Immigration Solution: Small-Town Living
How rural Australia opened itself to the world and became a model of integration and revival. Damien Cave, writing in The New York Times, considers the value of migration to Australian regional towns and how many rural communities suffer not from a lack of employment, but a lack of employees. … Read More
Home
Home: right people, right skills, right place, right policy, is a report that includes analysis and commentary on the unintended consequences of the Federal Government’s changes to the immigration programme for Adelaide, regional Australia and their third biggest export market; international students. Home draws from research undertaken by the South … Read More
City of Adelaide Becomes First Australian Capital City to Join National Welcoming Cities Network
Adelaide is set to join a national network of local councils committed to fostering social cohesion, signing on as the first Australian capital city in the Welcoming Cities network. The move will be formalised by The Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Martin Haese at the Opening Reception of the third annual … Read More
Murray Bridge
The aim of this project was to achieve a better understanding of the factors leading to long-term successful settlement outcomes for new migrants in the Rural City of Murray Bridge, with a focus on active citizenship and social participation in community life. The study sought to understand the types and … Read More
Welcoming Cities Symposium 2018
“Diversity is a reality. Inclusion is a choice.” The bold statement on the Institute for Canadian Citizenship website encapsulates the challenge for policy-makers, civic leaders, governments, businesses and communities both locally and globally. On 23 March 2018, Welcoming Cities will convene its third national symposium in the City of Adelaide. … Read More
Lake Macquarie Joins Welcoming Cities
Lake Macquarie has reinforced its commitment to being a diverse and inclusive City by becoming the first NSW Council to join the Welcoming Cities network. Mayor of Lake Macquarie, Councillor Kay Fraser, this week signed a formal commitment to Welcoming Cities, a national initiative that promotes social cohesion and the … Read More
Local jobs for local people
Jobs change lives. They empower individuals, sustain families and strengthen communities. High unemployment levels affect many communities across Australia and the task of tackling this problem has traditionally fallen to the federal and state governments. Local councils are also in an excellent position to understand the changing needs of local … Read More
City of Melton Embraces Welcoming
Melton City Council has embraced welcoming as one of the key areas of its recently launched Intercultural Plan 2017-2021. A key action of the City’s Intercultural Plan is to join the Welcoming Cities network which Mayor Sophie Ramsey formally endorsed on August 2. The City joins a growing national network … Read More
Darebin joins Welcoming Cities Network
Darebin Council has officially joined the Welcoming Cities Network to reaffirm and build on its long and proud history of promoting inclusiveness and equality. The City joins a growing national network of local councils who are committed to fostering a sense of community belonging and socioeconomic participation and equality for … Read More
The Art of Welcome
The idea of welcome as more than a greeting, but as an underpinning of commerce and socioeconomic development, existed centuries before colonial rulers long over-stayed theirs. Richard Trudgen in his seminal work on the Yolŋu outlines the trade practices of the First Nations peoples from what is now known as … Read More
The Role of Local Government in Settlement and Multiculturalism
“Although settlement planning and multicultural community relations strategies have historically adopted a top-down approach through leadership at federal level, much of the work on the ground has been undertaken at municipal level. What is currently missing in Australia is an agreed and effective inter-governmental strategy that harnesses the potential of … Read More
Building Tomorrow’s Communities
“That the National General Assembly supports the Welcoming Cities initiative launched by the Scanlon Foundation and Welcome to Australia in March 2016; and the development of The Australian Standard for Welcoming Cities, to support local councils in their work to create more inclusive communities” – Resolution carried at the Australian … Read More
Welcome is Not a Dirty Word
Current sound bites, headlines and social media diatribe would suggest the life support system has long been turned off on visionary and principled leadership in Australian politics. The daily mantra seems to be – Another day, another opportunity to drive a wedge between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Whether it’s denigrating people … Read More
City of Port Adelaide Enfield First South Australian Council to Join Welcoming Cities
The City of Port Adelaide Enfield is proud to be the first council in South Australia to join the Welcoming Cities Network. The network supports local councils and community leaders to leverage the ideas and innovation that come from being welcoming and inclusive, whilst working to remove barriers for new … Read More
Welcoming Cities: creating cohesive, more inclusive communities
Deloitte Australia has been engaged by Welcome to Australia and the Scanlon Foundation to research and write a draft Standard that will provide best practice accreditation framework in diversity and inclusion practices for Australian local councils. The draft Standard will be made available for public comment in March 2017. Interested … Read More
Migration and community experts to provide insights into cohesion at local level
International migration experts and Australian local government leaders will meet in Melbourne on Wednesday, to share and discuss best practice approaches for addressing key challenges and opportunities at a local level. The second national Welcoming Cities Symposium on 1 March will feature keynote speakers Jill Helke, International Organization for Migration, … Read More