With advice from the Australian Multicultural Affairs Council, the Australian Government announces a new multicultural policy, The People of Australia, which recognises the breadth and diversity of Australian society and reaffirms the government’s support for a culturally diverse and socially cohesive
The Manager of Multicultural programs, NSW Department of Education and Training, publishes online the department’s Anti-Racism Policy which commits the department to the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination in its schools and worksites.
The Australian Government signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Afghanistan, permitting the involuntary repatriation of failed Afghan asylum-seekers from Australia to Afghanistan, including unaccompanied minors and other Afghan children who have become separated from their families.
Responding to community concern expanded community-based detention arrangements (formally known as residence determination) for unaccompanied minors and vulnerable families are announced by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.
Ken Wyatt, a Liberal from Hasluck in Western Australia, becomes the first Aboriginal Australian elected to the House of Representatives.
Julia Gillard takes over leadership of the Australian Labor Party from Kevin Rudd: becoming Australia’s first female Prime Minister.
The Victorian Premier and Minister for Multicultural Affairs, John Brumby announces support to the value of $12 million would be provided for the development of cultural precincts as part of the Cultural Precincts and Community Infrastructure Fund in the state budget.
National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples launched, becoming the first national Indigenous representative body to be established since the dismantling of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission in 2005.
The People of Australia, the Australian Multicultural Affairs Council’s statement on cultural diversity and its recommendations to government, is presented to Australian government ministers for immigration and multicultural affairs at Melbourne’s Immigration Museum.
The Australian Human Rights Commission and the Internet Industry Australia co-host the Cyber Racism summit in Sydney.