Almost every job seeker in Australia will be required to work for the dole under planned tough new federal government rules. The government plans to make it mandatory for job seekers aged 18 to 49 to work for their welfare payments…

Funding for ESL (English as a Second Language) programs is under threat in New South Wales with 32 multicultural officers cut from the Department of Education and Communities. And experts say this is leading to NSW becoming a failed multicultural…

The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) has welcomed the Government’s decision not to proceed with the amendments to the racial vilification provisions of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA). Read more: http://www.fecca.org.au/news/item/572-no-changes-to-rda-a-win-for-united-community-voices-

A new report into the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and refugee youth in Australia says there’s a need for a continuing focus on English, education and training, and employment. The Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network commissioned Professor Graeme Hugo to…

BENDIGO will host the region’s first ever forum on problem gambling in multicultural communities on Wednesday. Leaders in the gambling prevention field will discuss challenges facing those from ethnic backgrounds and listen to perspectives from those within the Bendigo community. Loddon Campaspe…

A national study says that while migrants and refugees have high education rates in Australia, many struggle to find jobs. Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-05/migrant-job-struggle/5650926

A new batch of 250 emojis is being rolled out by Unicode and among them is a set of religious icons. Emojis are the ideograms, or smiley faces, used in electronic messages and webpages. Unicode, the character coding system, is…

Café supervisor Sheridan Mills tells how serving coffee and food to customers at the social enterprise Fifty-Six Threads Café helps him build friendships and gives him insight into human nature.      “A young couple (originally from Adelaide) come in…

Mobile digital technology could help deliver improved health, hygiene and education outcomes as well as economic progress in developing countries. Researchers at Monash University are working on how information and communications technology (ICT) can used to alleviate poverty. The work…

The government has transferred a group of asylum seekers from the Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia to Nauru. Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-02/tamil-asylum-seekers-moved-to-nauru/5644238

For Erminio Yap and Htun Htun, students from AMES West Hub, getting up at 5.30am was just the start of their challenging day during work experience at the Accor operated Swanston Grand Mercure Hotel in Melbourne. Erminio, 19, from East Timor,…

Most unemployed people don’t need long-term solutions, just a short-term safety net – for them, quarantined payments or work for the dole could simply hinder their job search, writes Simon Cowan. Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-01/cowan-paternalism-for-all-does-not-work/5641674