Darebin City Council believes the diversity of its community is one if its major strengths. A recent survey by the State Government showed 95.9 per cent of those surveyed in Darebin feel “Multiculturalism makes life in the area better.” This was above the State average of 86.9 per cent and the highest for any municipality in Victoria.
The Darebin community is diverse. One in three of Darebin’s residents were born overseas. A larger number speak a language other than English at home. Darebin also has the largest population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people in the metropolitan Melbourne area. More than 1,000 Darebin residents identified as ATSI in the last census.
Darebin also has more than 25,000 of its population with a disability. More than half of people with a disability are over 60 years old, however those with a disability include the entire range of demographics.
Darebin has a growing reputation for its response to diversity. The Darebin City Council Diversity Policy formalises a process Council have been following for some time.
The Diversity Policy is based on the understanding that everyone in the community has their own needs and wants; that we are all different, not that others are different. Darebin City Council doesn’t see it as acceptable to treat sectors of the community as amorphous, marginalised groups who need special services outside its core responsibilities. Community members should be able to access any Council service; they need to be able to understand information about it, and we need to make sure it caters for diversity.
Council maintains three reference committees as part of our ongoing community consultations: the Darebin Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Council (DATSICC); the Disability Working Party (DWP); and the Darebin Ethnic Communities Council (DECC).
Councillors’ and Officers’ regular meetings with these groups are invaluable to staff working on projects and policies. In particular, Council has been able to reach some sectors of the community who are difficult to contact through usual means. For example, DATSICC’s first priority was to employ an Aboriginal person and, through him, Council has been able to run training programs which the ATSI community might otherwise not have engaged in.
For a copy of Darebin’s Diversity Policy, see Council’s website. For more information, contact Roderick McIvor on (03) 9203 4484.
