Guide for governments

Western Australia is one of Australia's most culturally diverse States, with 30.7 per cent of its population born overseas. This diversity creates both opportunities and challenges for government agencies. One challenge is that agencies need to be able to plan and provide policies and programs that are inclusive, innovative and flexible, matching the needs of WA's culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) communities.

OMI has developed several resources to assist government agencies in providing services to CaLD clients:

• WA Language Services Policy
• Implementing the Principles of Multiculturalism Locally—A planning guide for WA local governments​
• Engaging Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities—A guide for the WA public sector​​
• Diverse WA—online cultural competency training for local government agencies and the public sector 
• Local Government Profiles​—selected data from the 2011 Census on cultural and linguistic diversity in WA.

Guide to Cultural and​ Linguistic Data Collection for the Public Sector

Western Australians come from over 200 countries, speak nearly 300 different languages and follow over 100 faiths. It is vital that this diversity is reflected in government policy, programs and services. Data collection is a key part of this process.

The Guide to Cultural and Linguistic Data Collection for the Public Secto​r​ was produced to assist State Government agencies to collect data relating to the cultural, linguistic and religious diversity of their clients. It provides suggestions and strategies for the collection of this data, including the use of standard variables.

The aim of the guide is to improve the quality and quantity of information collected, achieve consistency in data collection and enable meaningful comparisons to be made.​