What Does the Office of Multicultural Affairs Actually Do?

One Nation says it would scrap the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Good. But before we all take sides, I’ve got some simpler questions.

What does it do — and what does it cost?

What does the office actually achieve? What does it cost to run? How many staff does it carry? I honestly don’t know — and I’d wager most of the taxpayers paying for it don’t either. That alone is reason enough to ask the question out loud.

How many countries would even have one?

Here’s another one. How many other countries in the world would keep an office of multicultural affairs at all? Most nations take care of their own culture. They don’t run a government department to promote everybody else’s.

Our own house first

We should be looking after our own culture, as most countries do — not other people’s. Spending public money to promote other cultures makes no sense to me. And while we’re at it, the federal minister for multiculturalism should go the same way as the office.

Just asking the question

None of this is a shot at anyone. It’s a question about what government should fund and why. If a department exists, we’re entitled to know what it delivers for the money. If the answer’s thin, so is the case for keeping it.

Watch and listen to the full episode below.

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