​​At the hearing [PDF], Committee Chair Maria Vamvakinou MP acknowledged, “local government and grass roots services are on the front line, and their firsthand accounts of arrival and settlement, as well as the ongoing needs of migrant communities is crucial to making multiculturalism really work”.

The MAV reiterated the main themes of our submission to the inquiry, which was lodged in 2011. In particular, we called on the Australian Government to engage more strategically and systemically with local government on settlement planning for arriving migrants and refugees; and on wider issues arising from cultural diversity at the municipal level.