Cultural collaboration to better meld communities

From Swinburne Magazine, September 2008:
It has been more than three decades since the first wave of Vietnamese migrants arrived on Australia’s shores in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Since then they have become an established component of modern, multicultural Australia, but it was not always a smooth journey – either for the new arrivals or for local community agencies such as the police.
Understanding and working with different ethnic communities can pose challenges for community stability and, in particular, for policing – different cultural values and language barriers tend to create mutual mistrust. It has been a particular cross for immigrants to bear, so to bridge the misunderstandings and communication gulfs that often exist, Swinburne University of Technology has launched an innovative project that aims to build trust, communication and cooperation between two test groups, Melbourne’s Vietnamese community and Victoria Police. Read more.