Multicultural

(also known as Culturally and Linguistically Diverse)

CALD is the acronym for ‘culturally and linguistically diverse’.

CALD groups comprise a significant proportion of Australia’s population. Currently, 31% of Australians were born overseas and, of these, about two-thirds were born in non-English speaking countries (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2007).

CALD families refer to those born, or who have at least one parent born overseas, but the difficulty in defining the term needs to be acknowledged. On the one hand, it is an inclusive term when it is describing Australia’s cultural and linguistic plurality (ABS, 1999) and so refers to all families. However, in research and practice especially, it is mostly used to distinguish the mainstream community from those in which English is not the main language and/or cultural norms and values differ. “CALD” therefore has superseded the term “non-English speaking background” (NESB) because of its reference to culture as an explanation for why differences between CALD and mainstream communities may occur, and so goes beyond linguistic factors.

CALD families, then, generally refer to those that originate from countries in which English is not the main language. Therefore, it refers to all people who are not English-speaking Anglo-Saxons/Celtics or Indigenous/Aboriginal Australians. According to the 2006 Census, in descending order of population size, the main CALD groups in Australia are from Italy, China, Vietnam, India, Philippines, Greece, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Lebanon, and Hong Kong.

 


Maitland Touch Commitment

We are committed to supporting people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, as much as possible.

While we will continue to do what we can in this space, we encourage those form CALD backgrounds to engage with us and seek support to enhance your experience playing the sport we love so much.


Why are we doing work in this space?

Service providers (such as sporting organisations) need to consider the characteristics of CALD groups in their service delivery because the size of inequity in access to and use of services varies across the different CALD groups. Sport is a place for everyone, and this commitment helps to ensure those with a CALD background are able to seek and enjoy the sport of touch football.

Other Inclusion & Diversity Pages