NCOSS & Muslim Women Australia Submission: Improving crisis communications to culturally and linguistically diverse communities

In response to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into crisis communication with CALD communities during COVID, NCOSS in partnership with the Muslim Women Australia, lodged a submission which sought input from 11 different multicultural community organisations.

The NCOSS and Muslim Women Australia submission put forward a number of recommendations to the NSW Government, including but not limited to:

• Ensure immediate and effective representation of NGOs and multicultural community groups at local, regional and state-wide emergency management committees.
• Undertake further research to understand concerns, misconceptions and motivations of priority groups from CALD communities in relation to health and environmental crises.
• Ensure that public health information, including translated materials, becomes immediately available during a crisis in audio, video and written formats.
• Crisis communication should aim to create a sense of calm, ensuring consistency where possible across Federal and State jurisdictions. Crisis communication should not be ‘othering’ and use polarising rhetoric which triggers discrimination of CALD communities.