Council actively supports a range of programs, events and policies, which promote ethnic communities.

Ethnic Affairs Policy

The Ethnic Affairs Policy acknowledges the valuable contribution of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Newcastle by

• Ensuring that people from a CALD background have equitable access to Council services and can participate in Council’s planning processes
• Ensuring that Newcastle is a Welcome City to new and existing migrants, including refugees and international students.

 Ethnic Affairs Policy (281kb)

Key Issues

The preparation of the EAPS (2008-11) highlighted a number of key issues:

• The ageing of certain CALD groups, particularly those groups from the East and Central European migrant groups (eg. Polish, Italian, Macedonian, Greek). There is an ongoing advocacy role for Council to ensure that culturally appropriate and flexible service models are available for these groups to maintain equitable access to services.
• The classification of Newcastle as a regional or metropolitan area remains inconsistent at State and Federal levels of government and continues to impact on the availability of funding for local social infrastructure.
• International students are a growing market for the University of Newcastle that offers some significant opportunities for local and regional economic development strategies and opportunities in which Council has a facilitation role.
• Refugees as emergent communities in Newcastle are broadening the cultural diversity of our youth; however refugee youth have a number of issues across education, health and in establishing a sense of identity and community connectedness.
• Community harmony that is reflective of a culturally diverse and accepting city is a fundamental objective of multiculturalism and an increasingly important social concept for innovative cities and communities. Committed and ongoing civic leadership is actively sought by the broad community to facilitate and promote community harmony outcomes across a number of areas.

Background papers

 Discussion Paper (178 kb pdf)

Links to websites on ethnic diversity

Northern Settlement Services   This site provides extensive links to other services in the Newcastle and Hunter region

Department of Immigration and Citizenship   

Community Relations Commission 

University of Newcastle 

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 

Other Council policies

A number of policies have been developed by Newcastle City Council to ensure all groups within our community have equal access to its facilities and services. These policies include:

 Access Policy 28 kb pdf

Commitment to Indigenous Australians of Newcastle

Further information

For further information you can contact our New Communities Team on 02 4974 2961.