11/06/2025
The Australian Labor Government, under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has announced a new Office for Multicultural Affairs – and, for the first time, placed the multicultural affairs minister in Cabinet.
Labor is framing it as a “historic step” toward inclusion, with Minister Anne Aly – a Muslim Egyptian-born Member of Parliament – set to oversee the office under Home Affairs boss Tony Burke.
It will administer programs that provide over $30 million a year in “social cohesion” grants to Muslim and Arab groups, with $30 million having been provided to the Jewish community last year for a Synagogue in Melbourne.
An additional $7 million was funnelled into organisations like the AAP, SBS, the Human Rights Commission, and groups like the Islamophobia Register and the National Imams Council to “combat racism and disinformation.”
“Multiculturalism is not just about or for a section of our society,” stressed Anne. “Each and every one of us belongs to an Australia that has been enriched by our 65,000 years of ‘first nations’ culture and the successive stories, traditions, and histories of those who have come across the seas.”
