SYDNEY: The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) has written to The Hon. Andrew Giles MP––the newly appointed Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural ––welcoming the Federal Government's announcement to collect ethnicity data in the next Australian Census.

Mr Giles made the announcement at the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia (FECCA) conference, a move long called for by multicultural communities to inform policy making and to effectively support Australians.

The ANC-AU welcomed this announcement, stating they firmly believe that the inclusion of ‘ethnicity’ as an indicator will assist the Australian Government in better understanding the diversity of Australia and more accurately represent the presence of the Armenian-Australian community.

“Many members of the Armenian-Australian community came to this country directly from the Middle East, where they were refugees following the Armenian Genocide of 1915,” said ANC-AU Political Affairs Director Michael Kolokossian. “Some are born there and some speak Arabic or other languages at home. Therefore the ‘languages spoken at home’ and ‘country of birth’ indicators do not accurately reflect the makeup of our community.”

“The ANC-AU has long called for the inclusion of ‘ethnicity’ in the Australian Census and believes this is an integral reform to ensure the Armenian voice is accurately counted by the Australian Government.”