Yesterday I joined Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs Jason Wood, and more than 140 multicultural community leaders, to discuss Australia's travel pause with India and the range of assistance Australia is providing at this difficult time.
The Government will now undertake a large scale program of engagements with Australia's Indian community to hear their views and concerns regarding the evolving COVID-19 situation in India, provide updates, and convey the Australian Government support options that are available.
In addition, the Department of Home Affairs' Community Liaison Network will ensure the communication of official information to multicultural communities, and provide a mechanism for community members to share information about their priorities and concerns.
As a part of yesterday's community forum we also discussed other issues of importance to Australia's multicultural communities, including our COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Australia's strong social cohesion and what we are doing to keep it that way, and pandemic travel restrictions generally.
