Communities slam services shortfall

Andrew Mathieson
ETHNIC communities have demanded a boost to basic services in Geelong at a meeting with the state’s multicultural commission.
Community representatives highlighted their local concerns in response to a new Victorian Office of Multicultural Affairs whole-of-government report.
This week’s meeting at Geelong West Town Hall let local communities have their say on State Government ethnic policies.
Diversitat chief executive Michael Martinez hit out at the lack of interpreter services.
A group of Macedonian residents waited unsuccessfully for more than an hour on Tuesday at their meeting with Diversitat, formerly Geelong Ethnic Communities Council, he said.
Repeated calls to the Government-appointed interpreter service were greeted with “we’ll be five minutes”.
“That’s the situation we face in Geelong on a daily basis,” Mr Martinez said.
He blamed lack of funding for preventing attempts to start Geelong’s own interpreter service.
“We put up a solution that we wanted to get some local funding but it’s outside their parameters and it’s outside the square,” Mr Martinez said.
“Many other problems still had not “been brought to the attention of the public,” he said.
Other concerns included high insurance and rates rises for ethnic community clubs unable to raise enough money among ageing memberships.
“Some of the ethnic clubs now are paying thousands of dollars more in rates,” Mr Martinez said.
He believed 50 years of strong migration meant Geelong should have more multicultural support than other regional centres.