The Local Area Multicultural Partnership (LAMP) initiative is a unique partnership between the Queensland Government and local government to support local government to integrate the principles and practices of multiculturalism throughout their organisations and promote positive intercultural relations in their local region.

LAMP is designed to support the Queensland Government's multicultural policy objectives of ensuring that all Queenslanders, regardless of their cultural, linguistic or religious backgrounds:

• have equitable access to services and programs that response appropriately to their needs
• are able to fully participate in and benefit from all aspects of life in Queensland, and
• feel a sense of belonging in a cohesive and harmonious community.

In particular, LAMP aims to:

• strengthen multiculturalism in the local government sector, and
• promote positive intercultural relations and social cohesion in participating local council areas.

There are 14 local councils funded under the LAMP program. A coordination role is also funded within the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ). For more information please click here.
 

The Gladstone Region - Multiculturalism and Diversity Booklet was recently presented at the 12th International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations in Vancouver (Canada).

This living document portrays some of the challenges and benefits of living in a highly diverse society from a local government perspective.

While Gladstone Regional Council welcomes industrial expansion, it is vital that the process is well managed so all residents benefit from the experience.

In this regard, the development of both hard and soft social infrastructure will be an essential key of success.

The initial focus of the partnership between Council and industrial proponent has been on reinforcing hard infrastructure; however, it is equally acknowledged the importance of working on a cooperative and collaborative approach for the betterment of the soft infrastructure as well.

Consequently, Council and community stakeholders have joined efforts to implement a framework system called the 'Welcome - Settlement - Integration (WSI) Model', in which all newcomers to our ''Region of Choice'' are equally welcomed to participate in community activities regardless of where they come from. 

Due to Australia’s major and ongoing skills shortages in areas such as tradespeople and engineering, it is anticipated that the majority of skilled workers will come from overseas.

This proposal also attempts to explain some of the strategies adopted by Gladstone Regional Council (and key stakeholders) to:

• Evaluate current social infrastructure to effectively deal with an increase of 30% in population.
• Manage Cultural Diversity across the Region by implementing a Welcome - Settlement - Integration model.
• Develop community capacity (within community based organisations) to cope with rapid change.
• Further enhance cooperative relationships with Federal and State government authorities to ensure available funding meets emerging community needs. 

If you would like further information on this booklet or on the inititatives outlined, please call Council's Multicultural Community Relations Officer Luis Arroyo on (07) 4976 6352.