Gladys Liu (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government is on the side of multicultural communities? And is the minister aware of any future opportunities to support hardworking migrant communities?

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for her question and to honour her extraordinary Australian story. We are so pleased to have her in this place. She's standing up for the people of Chisholm and she's demonstrating that, in this nation, for people who work hard, anything is possible.

We are the greatest migrant nation in the world. Migrant success stories define our nation. The small-business person who takes a chance, invests and employs dozens of Australians; the one in three small businesses in Australia started by a migrant; the professional who uses their skills to help grow our economy; the religious leader who provides spiritual guidance to their community; the married couple who work hard, make extraordinary sacrifices and commit to the nation so that the next generation of their families might have opportunities that weren't available to them—these are the stories of Australia, in every town and suburb. And this government will back those migrant communities every step of the way.

In the electorate of Chisholm, there are two important programs that the government is supporting for our Fostering Integration Grants program. We're providing $50,000 to Chinese community social services for their Together as One program. We're providing $45,000 to the Migrant Information Centre of eastern Melbourne to support refugee families to integrate into the broader community. More opportunities to apply for grants under the program are coming up later this year.

Outside of Chisholm, there is so much more going on. The Prime Minister announced earlier this year that we'll be committing $10 million to community language schools. They're so important because they help Australian kids to learn a second language and learn more about their cultural heritage.

We're backing the Greek community in Melbourne through providing $2.5 million to the Hellenic Chair in Global Diasporas at the University of Melbourne, and $2.5 million towards the Greek community centre hub on Lonsdale Street.

We're backing the Australian Vietnamese community, with some $5 million towards the Australian Vietnamese museum in Melbourne. The Australian Vietnamese community deeply values the freedoms and liberties of this nation, and it is a wonderful thing that we will have this museum to celebrate the extraordinary contribution of Australians of Vietnamese background.

There are so many more programs. There's our small business program backing migrant start-ups, and we're also helping people to access culturally appropriate aged care.

As I said at the beginning, we're the greatest migrant nation in the world; a big part of that is the contribution of millions of Australians who have immigrated to our nation. Our government, under this Prime Minister, will back those communities every step of the way.