The Victorian Government acknowledges that multicultural communities experience health and mental‑health issues differently and offers tailored services to enhance wellbeing.
The government plays a significant role in supporting humanitarian entrants and people seeking asylum. In 2024–25 we funded a range of settlement programs providing tailored support to humanitarian entrants and people seeking asylum, including the Support for Asylum Seekers initiative. This initiative funded the Australian Red Cross and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre to deliver critical services to people seeking asylum who do not qualify for national support programs (DPC: $2.65 million for 2024–25).
In 2024–25 the Department of Health (DH), under the Patient Support Units program, funded 23 health services to ensure all patients are ready for surgery or directed to alternative care pathways. The units also support improvements to enable timely access to planned surgery.
To improve access to timely planned care for patients from multicultural backgrounds, DH developed a range of communication materials in different languages, targeting the specific needs of diverse communities (DH).
The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Scholarship and Bursary Program supports registered nurses with midwifery qualifications to complete a postgraduate MCH nursing course. Scholarships are offered annually at La Trobe University and Federation University. This program ensures universities target students in priority groups, including applicants who identify as multicultural.
At the start of 2025, 71 priority scholarships were awarded. By prioritising applicants from underrepresented groups, these scholarships are strengthening workforce diversity and contributing to an MCH workforce that better reflects Victoria’s diversity (DH: $500,000 in 2024–25).
DH also funded Multicultural Storytime, an initiative that strengthens connections for children from multicultural and First Peoples communities by fostering language, identity and cultural pride. Sessions give communities culturally appropriate, evidence-based health information, including details about local health services.
By funding 25 organisations, the initiative expanded access to include early learning opportunities and promoted health literacy. This investment reached thousands of families in 2024–25, helping build strong cultural ties while supporting children’s development and wellbeing. Multicultural Storytimes were offered in 37 languages (DH: $1.5 million for 2024–25).
The government is committed to supporting African Victorian communities to have a sense of belonging and to thrive.3 For example, the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) is implementing the Victorian African Communities Action Plan (VACAP), a 10-year plan initiated in 2018. The plan was developed by and for Victoria’s African communities to provide culturally tailored programs and services that support social and economic outcomes.
VACAP’s Project Sunrise is an alcohol and other drugs initiative that provides targeted education programs and outreach services across 8 priority local government areas. In 2024–25 Project Sunrise delivered more than 100 episodes of care and treatment to young people and their families; delivered more than 70 alcohol and other drugs counselling sessions, case management and family support; and engaged more than 4,000 community members through community events (DPC: $510,000 in 2024–25).
Under VACAP, DPC also supports a mental health initiative that funds 3 community organisations to deliver supports, including services for young people and people experiencing homelessness (DPC: $200,000 in 2024–25).
Case study – Public Health Units
Goulburn Valley Public Health Unit, in partnership with Wise Well Women and Meryula Clinic, delivered 7 in-language targeted outreach education programs to support women from multicultural backgrounds to prioritise their health. Sessions focused on cervical, breast and bowel cancer screening. In all, 115 women across 10 language groups took part.
The clinics provided a welcoming and safe environment where women could ask questions, raise concerns and access cervical screening on the day. Sessions were tailored to community needs and delivered in languages such as Cantonese, Filipino, Mandarin, Pashto, Punjabi, Sinhalese and Tongan. All clinics offered childcare, ensuring participants could fully engage in the sessions. As the program expanded across the region, it reached even more women and empowered them to take charge of their health.
The Western Public Health Unit (WPHU) promoted translated INFANT program resources, including booklets that provide mums, dads and carers with evidence-based advice on feeding and play for babies aged up to 12 months. This included partnering with 9 council libraries and baby and toddler programs, enabling them to reach more than 320 families, share around 100 booklets, link to digital copies and explore opportunities to embed INFANT resources into library systems. WPHU also delivered 4 capacity-building sessions for 16 library staff to help ensure INFANT information and resources are shared.
WPHU also strengthened the Victorian health educator workforce through a partnership with the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health by training 15 bilingual health educators to deliver in-language sessions. These sessions reached 103 multicultural families across 4 languages (Arabic, Easy English, Mandarin and Vietnamese) and distributed translated INFANT resources in Arabic, English, Mandarin, Punjabi, Urdu and Vietnamese. WPHU also worked with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Footscray to provide resources and raise awareness of local programs among 20 refugee and asylum seeker families.
Footnotes
3 The 2024–25 State Budget provided $17 million over 4 years for VACAP.
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