Strategic Plan 2019-2023

Who we are and what we want to achieve

The community of our dreams

A stronger, well-integrated, better connected and more resilient migrant community which has evolved and transformed itself as well as the wider community around it by constant learning, effective training, skills development and tireless work for the economic benefit of Australia.

A community that respects Australian values and amplifies the virtues of good character. A community which respects Australian history and heritage and those who made it. A community which is friendly, tolerant, forgiving and reconciled. A community which believes that major positive changes can be achieved by the power of education, technology, science and research.

How we plan to achieve it

To educate, strengthen and empower migrant communities in Australia. To advocate for equal employment opportunities, equal employment conditions and equal pay for both temporary and permanent migrant workers, as well as other human rights. To enhance the employment prospects of the migrant community and to maximise the economic benefits of migration for Australian states and territories. To protect the rights of vulnerable refugees and migrants with disabilities. To promote migration to regional and rural areas of Australia and to work together with the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to create permanent incentives for migrants to stay in lower populated areas of the country. To inform migrants of the importance of abiding by the law and the mores of society. To promote tolerance and respect and to reduce tension between different ethnic migrant groups and the wider community. To help migrants integrate into the wider community and work together with them to drive local employment and business opportunities. To utilise migration as an instrument to make Australian community more resilient, adaptable and ready to overcome shocks, whether of social or economic nature. To promote ethnic cultures and use art, music and sports activities to connect between newly arrived migrants, more established migrants and Australian citizens. To make sure all these groups form a cohesive society which acts in the national interest of Australia.

Our approach

• We collaborate with individuals, businesses, governments, communities and the not-for-profit sector to benefit multicultural migrant communities and the wider community.
• We work in a vibrant and friendly environment to proactively search for, plan and implement projects and initiatives to assist the migrant community to integrate into the wider Australian community socially, professionally and culturally.
• We aim to participate in projects that assist the growth of population in regional Australia, improve capital infrastructure, enhance the prospects of employment and doing business in regional and rural areas.
• We may assist and advise the government and state authorities in the development of migration legislation, policies, plans and procedures.
• We initiate, promote or oppose changes to migration law or another law that may have a direct or indirect impact upon migrants from different backgrounds.
• We believe both humanitarian and economic migrants have to be given a fair treatment by the law. Human rights should be disregarded under any circumstances.
• We provide legal aid to migrants, assisting them by pro-bono work from Australia’s leading migration law professionals.
• We provide settlement services and help individuals integrate into the community.
• We deliver projects with lasting economic, legal and social effect which do not need further funding.
• We work with leaders of multicultural communities to set common goals for the multicultural Australian community and develop ways to achieve them.
• We use information technology to automate business processes as much as possible in order to increase the pace of delivery of projects, eliminate the human factor and spend time and money on innovation and creativity, rather than routine.
• We use open-source and donated software programs and applications to reduce the cost of operation: for project management, communication, document archiving, issue tracking, accounting and liaising with the media.
• We believe in agile implementation: we launch our projects within deadlines and when they are very topical for the public, to gradually incorporate community feedback later on.
• We prefer making smaller verifiable actionable steps in planning: we believe these are the best to deliver measurable and tangible benefits.

Values that we share

Diverse Australia Inc. believes that a no-for-profit entity has to be driven by values. Here are the cornerstones we rely on in everything that we do:

Diversity and Equality. Diverse Australia Inc. serves the whole of the multicultural population of Australia, rather than a particular community or ethnic group. Australia has benefited from immigration a lot and it has one of the strongest immigration philosophies in the world, supported by hundreds of years of experience of having new settlers come. We believe that diversity is our strength at it makes us more resilient to all kinds of shocks. We believe that this country is made of deserving professionals who have come from all corners of the world to live in a free society where human rights are respected and to realize their most ambitious dreams and projects for the benefit of Australia. They have also come to live, work and prosper here because we are an egalitarian society, where everyone has equal treatment before the law, regardless of gender, ethnic background, religious beliefs or skin colour.

Collaboration and Interaction. Diverse Australia Inc. realises that it is important to communicate tirelessly with all stakeholders and at all levels to achieve our goals. Our major stakeholder is the Commonwealth, its departments and agencies. We are also happy to have close business relationships with state and territory governments. We realize the growing importance of local councils, especially in rural and regional areas of Australia and try to establish connections with them. We also want to strengthen our position and participation in projects by engaging with other community organisations who work on local and country-wide initiatives. We recognize the growing use of information technology in communication of a not-for-profit. We place a lot of weight on using advanced communication and collaboration tools, like project management tools, knowledge bases, discussion kits, to keep everyone engaged, facilitate interaction and improve idea and progress tracking.

Credible Information and Expertise. Diverse Australia Inc. believes in the power of science and research and in their ability to make lives of people better. We also think that Australia has a potent science and research sector which employs world’s most gifted individuals famous for their groundbreaking work. We rely on their work, their findings and their expertise and want to use it for the benefit of the Australian multicultural community. We need evidence before we make any judgements, conclusions or decisions. We want to rely on facts, figures and reliable evidence when we plan, implement and monitor the execution of our projects. Public debate is impossible without reliance on most recent research and neither is it possible to embrace the changes and challenges that communities in Australia face today if we do not rely on trustworthy verifiable information and do not identify which information is reliable and which is flawed. There should be reasoning and evidence behind everything that we are doing and we have to listen to the voices of individuals who have been duly recognized as experts in their fields. To make sure we remain up-to-date with all the recent developments in the Australian multicultural community, we constantly consult community leaders, use existing and do our own research to detect trends, issues, areas of concern and ares, where debate is necessary.

Good Governance. Diverse Australia Inc. is a transparent organisation that is guided by the laws of the Commonwealth, state and territory laws, its governing rules as well as documents specifying its financial and risk management policy. We always make sure that we run projects in an effective manner and spend the donor’s money efficiently. We therefore only deal with projects that bring strategic change to an area that needs improvement and do not need ongoing funding. We are accountable and have no tolerance to corruption. We make sure that we run the organisation in a way that we are able to hear the voices of all members of the community and that all members can part in decision making. We are responsive and we accept the need to look for consensus: we are therefore ready to take the role of a mediator between the different interests of members of a particular ethnic group, diverse interests of diverse ethnic communities, well-established and new communities, to find and achieve what is in the best interest of the whole of the Australian community. We believe it is necessary to make plans to develop our communities that are valid in the long term perspective. To achieve such strategic planning, we have to accept and embrace the cultural and religious and social differences of its diverse members, promote reconciliation, active participation and mutual respect.

What are our focus areas

Focus Area One: Migrant Settlement and Integration

Strategic Goal One. Improve post-migration adaptation experience, integration process and settlement outcomes of new arrivals to Australia, for the benefit of Australian economy and the whole Australian community.

Objective 1a. Form and maintain relationships with the Commonwealth and its agencies, federal, state and territory governments, local councils, businesses, employers, community organisations and other stakeholders who may be of assistance, in order to develop an action plan on the integration of migrants to the Australian community. 

Objective 1b. Look at possibilities how the measures and activities set out in the action plan can be funded. 

Objective 1c. Start the preparation of activities, events and projects. Make applications for funding.

Objective 1d. Run the projects, monitor the execution of grant agreements, track the aims and parts of the action plan that have been achieved and addressed by the projects in progress.

KPI 1a. Develop an action plan with a set of measures and activities for better migrant integration, liaison with their own community, other multicultural communities and other stakeholders, suggest measures for improvement of migrant employment. The action plan must also contain a separate section on Australian values and the importance of being of good character and how this can be achieved in practice.

KPI 1b. Identify ways and means by which the measures, activities and projects in the action plan can be funded. Decide on the sources of funding (e.g. government grants, grants by private businesses) and whether and which public fundraising will be used, including fundraising online on designated platforms (e.g. Kickstarter, Change.org). 

KPI 1c. Succeed in funding applications, sign grant agreements and commence projects.

KPI 1d. Complete the projects, execute grant agreements, report to grantors and the wider public, make a summary of the parts of the action plan that have been achieved and identify areas of improvement. Make changes to the action plan if necessary.

Focus Area Two: Advancement of education and research

Strategic Goal Two. Encourage, aid, inform of the existing opportunities and promote research and higher research degrees offered by Australian universities among the members of the multicultural community, which will result in an increase in the number of higher degree research students and strengthen Australia’s research potential locally and globally.

Objective 2a. Start an ongoing dialog with universities, research institutions, foundations, scientific journals and other academic organizations about the availability of research opportunities, higher degree enrolment options, publication and conference participation opportunities for scholars who are at the start of their academic careers. Engage employers into the conversation.

Objective 2b. Communicate with universities, the Commonwealth, states and territories, foundations and other scholarship providers to increase and enhance scholarship opportunities for students from different cultural, enthic and linguistic backgrounds, including first and second generation migrants to Australia, skilled migrants and their family members, refugees and their family members, Australian citizens as well as permanent and provisional visa holders. Discuss the possibility to improve scholarship opportunities for international students who intend to do a higher degree by research in Australia and whose field of research is of strategic interest to Australia.

Objective 2c. Take measures and improve the coordination between research institutions, scientists, businesses, the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, in order to improve the rate of commercialisation of scientific studies.

KPI 2a. Develop a database of study, research and employment opportunities for new students from multicultural communities, which will be updated on a regular basis.

KPI 2b. Achieve measurable and sustainable progress in the number of scholarship opportunities offered by different stakeholders for students doing higher research degrees (Master’s by Research, Doctoral by Research) in Australia in the following target groups: first and second generation migrants, skilled migrants and their family members, refugees and their family members, both Australian citizens and non-citizen residence visa holders. Achieve special scholarship opportunities for students on provisional regional visas, who intend to live in regional Australia or whose research is focused on regional Australia or brings benefit to regional Australia. Achieve a rise or a projected rise in scholarship opportunities (confirmed by specific commitments from stakeholders) in Master’s by research and Doctoral degrees for international students, where the research field or projected research outcomes may be of strategic interest to Australia.

KPI 2c. Achieve tangible improvement in the commercialisation of research and coordination between stakeholders.

Focus Area Three: Development of Regional and Rural Areas of Australia

Strategic Goal Three. Improve regional population numbers through skilled migration, improvement of business and employment opportunities, skills training and development of regional multicultural communities.

Objective 3a. Promote skilled regional immigration to rural and regional areas, including, but not limited to provisional visas that lead to permanent residence.

Objective 3b. Improve business and employment outcomes by reducing the cost of doing business, embracing emerging industries, opportunities and technologies, increasing direct investment outside capital cities, increasing self-employment and fostering entrepreneurial activity, improving skill training opportunities.

Objective 3c. Aid the development of regional migrant communities, promote diversity and multiculturalism.

KPI 3a. Observe a rise in the population of regional areas by around 2% annually. Observe an increasing trend of individuals remaining  in regional Australia even after the grant of permanent residency or citizenship. Observe a decline in the relocation to capital cities.

KPI 3b. Achieve a decrease in the cost of doing business due to the use of new technologies in different sectors of the economy. Achieve the development of new industries in regional economies as well as traditional ones and and the increase in investment into rural areas. Open regional business hubs where start-up entrepreneurs can learn business and industry skills, collaborate and learn from each other as well as from experts to make their projects more resilient, adaptable to change, external stresses and shocks.

KPI 3c. Open community centres in regional areas, where newcomers from different ethnic backgrounds and cultures could interact with better established migrants, as well as the wider community, learn about the Australian way of life and Australian values, get tips and advice about all realms of life.

Focus Area Four: Promotion of Respect and Reconciliation, Language and Cultural Diversity

Strategic Goal Four. Achieve an atmosphere of respect where people from diverse cultures and language backgrounds would flourish, eradicate hatred and create a friendly and harmonious multicultural environment.

Objective 4a. Work closely with all multicultural communities to promote understanding of multiculturalism as a common value and feature of Australian society. Identify groups which may have tension between their members and members of other ethnic communities.

Objective 4b. Prepare projects that would focus on the development of community languages, aid learning and testing in community languages.

Objective 4c. Plan sporting (e.g. matches, games) and cultural events (e.g. dinners, plays, exhibitions of art) that would bring diverse ethnic communities together, help overcome barriers and disagreement, promote tolerance and respect. Consider fundraising at such events.

KPI 4a. Suggest projects, their aims and deliverables, the ethnic groups involved, that would have a tangible result of overcoming tension and friction. Identify sources of funding and dates for such projects.

KPI 4b. Deliver projects to promote community language learning and testing, involving cooperation with the Commonwealth and its agencies, state and territory governments, community language schools, the National Accreditation Agency for Translators and Interpreters, language teachers, interpreters and other stakeholders.

KPI 4c. Deliver sporting and cultural events annually that are attended by the biggest possible number of visitors. Make sure there is a different theme each year and all ethnic communities have an opportunity to be represented.

Focus Area Five: Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Participation in the Debate on Legislative Change

Strategic Goal Five. Promote and protect human rights of migrants, specified in international conventions, to which Australia is a signatory.

Objective 5a. Seek for ways and means to protect the human rights of the migrant community of Australia as well as intending migrants. Look for potential projects and sources of funding.

Objective 5b. Analyze, initiate, promote to review, suggest or oppose legislation and policy changes that can affect the migrant community.

Objective 5c. Promote the concept of basic legal awareness among migrants.

KPI 5a. Achieve substantial improvement in anti-discrimination practices of the migrant community and intending migrants, guranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including, but not limited to, equal pay, favourable conditions of work, just remuneration. Decrease cases of racial discrimination and discrimination in eduction, as well as discrimination in other spheres of life.

KPI 5b. Have submissions published to public inquiries into the Bills and suggested legislative changes on behalf of the organization in which suggested changes were supported or opposed and be included into final reports. Have  petitions launched to promote legislative changes. Have initiatives prepared to the federal and states’ governments. Have journal articles published and speeches at conferences.

KPI 5c. By holding training and educational events, seminars and workshops, make migrants more aware of laws and policies that affect their lives, teach them to understand and interpret these correctly in order not to be beyond the law, know their rights and duties and have a fulfilling life.