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NSW Ethnic Communities' Council

Stepan Kerkyasharian.

Stepan Kerkyasharian, on the Ethnic Community leaders.

Created:

1994

Date Added:

26 July 2002

Source:

Interview for Making Multicultural Australia, 1994.

Format:

mov (Quicktime);

File size:

--

Length:

24 secs

Transcript

STEPAN KERKYASHARIAN Foundation member, Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW and later Chair, NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission

Ethnic community leaders realised that their own communities would be better served if they acted jointly, if they acted in unison. And the ECC (Ethnic Communities' Council), with Bill Jegorow’s efforts, became the forum where common ground could be found on a number of issues and they could be presented to Government forcefully in a very positive environment, where social change was clearly on the agenda.

CONTINUATION OF INTERVIEW AS TEXT

The main catalyst for pulling the ECC together was the recognition that the Federal Government was giving attention to some issues and causes espoused by the Ethnic Communities' Council.

There was an active pursuit by the Whitlam Government to politicise people, ie to increase an awareness among Australians, in general, of political issues and to encourage political debate.
Interview for Making Multicultural Australia, 1994.