Multicultural groups receive fee waivers for Girrawheen Hub

THE City of Wanneroo plans to continue subsidising multicultural groups’ use of the Girrawheen Hub after State funding finishes this June.

The three-year hub project stemmed from a $100,000 grant from the Office of Multicultural Interests to create a multicultural office space, with the City providing a vacant building near the Girrawheen Library and Girrawheen Koondoola Senior Citizens Centre.

A council report said the State Government identified that multicultural groups in the culturally diverse suburb needed an office and meeting space, so it provided a grant that was due to expire in June 2020.

“Girrawheen is a highly diverse area with 41 per cent of its 9000 residents born overseas and 39 languages other than English being spoken in the area,” the report said.

It said groups using the hub were vetted to align with “the hub’s remit to provide employment readiness skills, social enterprise and micro-economic support and social support to residents and the wider multicultural community”.

The report said an average of 2000 people used the hub every month.

Organisation of African Communities (OAC) in WA president Joe Tuazama said people of culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds from across Perth used the hub as a safe place to meet.

“It’s bringing people together,” he said.

“It’s very useful and very community-friendly.

The hub has proven that is on of the best things that has happened around here for people from CaLD backgrounds.

“Most of these small groups don’t have the financial strength to hire a space for meetings.”

The biomedical engineer said the OAC had previously hired an office in Leederville but couldn’t afford to continue paying rent, so it was good to have a space to hold regular community meetings and hold its programs.

“We do mentoring programs; we do youth programs; we do training,” he said.

“We also do settlement programs where other communities help newly arrived people.”

Mr Tuazama said the hub was used seven days a week by various community groups, with the hall popular for events and rehearsals, including for next week’s Jambo Africa Festival.

He said many small businesses also used it for office space on weekdays.

At their February meeting, councillors unanimously agreed to support eligible multicultural groups using the facility by waiving hire fees up to $25,000 a year.

It agreed to list $25,000 for consideration in the City’s annual budgets for the next three years to continue delivering services at the hub, and $50,000 each over the next two financial years to investigate rebuilding, renewing or upgrading the hub and surrounding precinct.

“The hub concept that has been piloted here at Girrawheen Hub since 2017 has had a great impact on the local community,” councillor Domenic Zappa said.

Mayor Tracey Roberts said members of the African community at a recent event approached her to thank the City for providing the hub.

“They see it as that sense of place and connection,” she said.

“The City is incredibly proud of its diversity and Girrawheen is a shining example of its multicultural heart, with 39 languages other than English spoken in the suburb and a united sense of community.

“The success of the hub over the last three years has proven that local groups want and need this facility.”

Mr Tuazama said he hoped other local governments would create similar hubs to meet the needs of their multicultural communities.

“We really hope that other city councils can follow the example of the City of Wanneroo (and) provide some pro-bono facilities,” he said.

Mr Tuazama said he would also ask Premier Mark McGowan and Multicultural Interests Minister Paul Papalia to provide more state funding for the hub initiative, with the previous funds provided through a Local Projects, Local Jobs election commitment by Girrawheen MLA Margaret Quirk.

Details about the proposed Girrawheen precinct in Patrick Court are included in the City’s Girrawheen and Koondoola Local Area Plan.