The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre was alive on Saturday night with colour, conversation and the energy of hundreds of people who share a sense of belonging. Under the theme Stories of Us, the Premier’s Multicultural Gala Dinner brought together community leaders, politicians, diplomats, faith representatives and performers from across the globe for a night of celebration and connection.
Wurundjeri Elder Aunty Annette opened with a warm and funny Welcome to Country. She spoke of her mixed Maltese and Aboriginal heritage, her work on affordable housing and reconciliation as a daily practice. Her cousin’s line brought the house down: “All we gotta do now is mix with the Asians, and we’ll have the perfect multicultural race.”
Premier Ben Carroll, who assumed office earlier this year, delivered one of the evening’s most personal speeches and flagged a significant announcement. “Victoria’s secret sauce is our diversity,” he said.
His mother migrated from America as a girl, the daughter of an American military policeman and a Scottish nurse who had met during World War II. The family chose Australia as a midway point and arrived by ship. “There’s a part of my mum that will always be American,” he said. “But that doesn’t make her any less Australian. If anything, her choice to become a permanent resident, then a citizen of this country, makes her more Australian than me.”
He pushed back firmly against the idea that Australia had ever been a monocultural society. “Some people would have you believe that there was a mythic time when Australia, and therefore Victoria, was monocultural. That is a lie.”
He pointed to the first Victorians, Aboriginal nations who spoke more than 30 languages, and to the rebels of the Eureka Stockade, who came from 19 different nationalities and whose most prominent figure, John Joseph, was African American. “The Southern Cross flag they fought under was designed and made by an immigrant,” he noted.
Carroll then flagged what could become a key multicultural policy announcement. “My first major policy commitment in the multicultural affairs portfolio will involve languages,” he said, describing himself as passionate about the issue from his years as Education Minister.
He did not give details, but promised a significant announcement in the coming months. “I believe that’s what Victorians want: real policies and real commitments, not stunts or one-off cash handouts.”
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson spoke of a statewide listening tour she had recently completed, visiting all 88 Victorian electorates. She described roundtables with African community leaders in Footscray and Cranbourne, visits to gurdwaras and Hindu temples across the suburbs, a Shabbat dinner in Caulfield and conversations with Vietnamese traders on Victoria Street in Richmond.
“Victoria’s history isn’t written in a single script,” she said. “It’s written in dozens of languages, shared across kitchen tables, built through quiet sacrifice and carried across oceans.”
She used the occasion to outline two priorities, community safety and small business support, should she become Premier at the November election.
The evening’s theme ran through the speeches and performances. Interim VMC Chairperson Louisa Perry captured it simply. “Thank you for your unapologetic, your unreserved and your undiminished sense of community pride and purpose,” she told the crowd.
She acknowledged outgoing VMC Chairperson Vivienne Nguyen, who concluded seven years of service last month, and spoke of the transition to the new Multicultural Victoria with confidence. “Our mission will remain: to promote unity and inclusion, to harness the enormous benefits and richness that diversity brings us.”
New Multicultural Affairs Minister Paul Edbrooke used his address to speak about the killing of Van Viet Truong in Sunshine, whose death had left his family and the broader Vietnamese community in mourning.
“Van Viet Truong should have gone home to his family that night,” he said. “Instead, a family is grieving, and so is a whole community.”
He was unequivocal: “There is no place in Victoria for violence or hatred or vilification. Your state Labor government will always take strong action to keep communities safe.”
Between the speeches, the evening lived up to its promise of cultural celebration. Performers from Thai, South American and other traditions filled the programme, while community groups shared their cultural practices in the foyer. Writers Victoria contributed bookmarks for guests, a small and thoughtful detail in an evening full of them.
The night ended the way it began, with a sense that the people in the room were not simply guests at a government event but participants in something that mattered.
As Perry put it: “There is meaning and there is majesty in an evening of this sort. Most of all, have fun.”
By all accounts, they did.
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