From Agreement to Action: A National Symposium to close Australia's Multicultural Data Gap

By Tina La, Policy and Program Officer

Australia is one of the most culturally diverse nations on earth. More than a quarter of us were born overseas, and almost a quarter speak a language other than English at home. Yet when it comes to understanding the health needs, experiences and outcomes of multicultural communities, our data tells an incomplete story. 

On October 14, we hope to begin to change this. The Australian Multicultural Health Collaborative, in partnership with La Trobe University, will host the Multicultural Data Symposium: From Agreement to Action in Canberra, the first national event of its kind bringing together community members, researchers, policymakers, service providers and data experts under one roof. 

At the moment, data intended to capture diversity across Australia is inconsistent. Some datasets capture only one indicator, such as “country of birth”, which is not enough to understand the real diversity within and between communities. Even then, sole reliance on an indicator like “country of birth”, “language spoken at home”, or “English proficiency” have been found to be unreliable proxies to capture Australia’s CALD population. For example, in one study, the longer an individual had resided in Australia, the less accurate their response to “country of birth” was. Children of immigrants from a CALD background living in Australia were also likely to record their language spoken at home as English, which would misclassify them as part of the non-CALD population.1 

It’s gaps like these that reflect what governments and institutions have chosen to prioritise, fund and measure, and what they have not. This means policymakers and service providers are often working with an incomplete picture, making it harder to design culturally responsive services, allocate resources fairly, and track whether reforms are reaching the communities who need them most. 

Over one day, symposium participants will work towards consensus on a minimum dataset for multicultural communities, a core set of variables that could, for the first time, be consistently collected across the country. At the end of it, we aim to have attendees endorse a formal statement on this agreed dataset, along with a shared commitment to help build a roadmap for putting it into practice. 

A nationally consistent dataset can help identify where services are falling short, guide funding towards the communities most in need, and give multicultural communities a stronger evidence base to advocate for themselves. It also opens the door to safer, more ethical data linkage, allowing researchers and policymakers to build a fuller picture of people’s health journeys over time. 

Importantly, the day won’t end at an agreement among symposium attendees. To make sure the proposed dataset genuinely reflects community priorities and lived experience, the symposium will convene a citizens’ jury, bringing everyday community members together to test the proposed variables. This process will help ensure the dataset is meaningful and trusted by the communities it is designed to serve. 

What comes out of this room intends to reshape how Australia measures diversity for years to come, and we look forward to sharing the outcomes with wider multicultural sector in the months ahead. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the Symposium, you can reach out at admin@multiculturalhealth.org.au