Western Australia

Western Australia Chinese Chamber of Commerce Inc. (Perth)

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"Cultural Differences Between The East and The West" - Free Seminars to Promote Living in Harmony

$50,000 Awarded

| Aims | Activities | Outcomes |

Aims

This project, now completed, aimed through a series of seminars involving Asian- and Anglo-Australians to share information to:

  • increase harmony among ethnic groups

  • create a better understanding of the differences between Eastern and Western cultures and religions

  • decrease misconceptions in Western Australia

  • improve harmony across communities by targeting the cross cultural understanding of business and community organisations

Activities

The project:

  • addressed issues of:

    • mainstream law enforcement in relation to people of Asian origin

    • marginalisation and disadvantage of Asian people in the court system

    • service delivery of government and other agencies to meet the culture-specific communication needs of Asian clients

    • community misconceptions about the burden that Australians of Asian origin pose to society

  • developed and provided 24 two hour seminars to deliver:

    • essential information about common human values

    • Asian (especially Chinese and Muslim) cultural values and norms

    • strategies for effective intercultural communication

  • specifically targeted senior personnel from:

    • health

    • education

    • welfare

    • business

    • police

    • judiciary

    • magistrates

    • environmental health

    • fire and emergency officers

    • family and children's services

    • Centrelink

    • Fisheries Department

  • undertook research to identify the specific needs of different target audiences, which for different groups showed needs such as:

    • Environmental Health Inspectors-- reducing the number of offences relating to contravention of rules and regulations related to food hygiene

    • Police officers - developing a culturally sensitive approach to investigations to achieve more effective results, and providing information on Chinese and Muslim naming systems

    • (University) teachers and students - developing a culturally sensitive university environment leading to increased understanding of how religious structures impact on communities' relation to the law

    • Family and Children's Services - reducing incidents of parent-child conflict among Asian families and improving mutual insights of administrators and Asian parents about child care responsibilities in the Australian system

    • Fire and Emergency Services - providing knowledge and competencies to deal with emergency calls from the Asian community

    • Fisheries Department - reducing the number of offences relating to the contravention of rules and regulations in respect of fishing offences

    • Business community - improving understanding and compromise in business situations (ie between Asians and others)

    • Judiciary - raising awareness of cultural implications of differences in language and behaviour in court

  • produced materials for each seminar

  • undertook comprehensive ongoing analysis of feedback questionnaires issued after the seminars

Outcomes

The project:

  • recommended that the ideal seminar would be one which "had the participation of two different groups of Australians", ie:

    • Australians of Western descent

    • Australians of Asian descent/recent Asian migrants

  • successfully identified and addressed cultural conflict in environmental health/hygiene practices, helping find compromises in situations such as where:

    • Asian mothers handfeeding their children (disapproved of as poor hygienic practice by officers from Family and Children's Services) explained that this is an important part of the bonding process, and the officers, as a compromise, described thorough hygiene practices for food and handling

    • discussion between Chinese restaurateurs and environmental health inspectors proved "an eye-opener for both sides" - while the Asians put forward their cultural requirements, the officers were able to restate the Australian laws relating to cleanliness in respect of food handling and premises with greater understanding of the context that all Australian restaurants must operate in

  • despite the above successes, found there were difficulties attracting Asians to the seminars, as they did not see the value of attending them - the project realised this would need to be a separate education exercise

  • found that the seminars (all very well attended) "took on a life of their own", ie the Chamber:

    • received specific requests from various participating organisations to:

      • repeat "Chinese-oriented" sessions with ones focusing on Muslim culture

      • hold specially targeted seminars for particular organisations

    • will take advantage of the interest by continuing to organise more seminars on request in the years to come

  • received warm testimonials from various organisations that the seminars were very well received for both content and presentation

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