NSW Health Minister asks how to communicate COVID messages with multicultural communities

·

The NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazzard, and NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, spoke to multicultural communities today about the current state lockdown, the vaccination rollout and how the government can better tailor its COVID-19 messaging.

Dr Chant opened up the digital meeting by firstly thanking multicultural communities across the state for adhering to the current lockdown restrictions, but stressed that more needed to be done to stop people from visiting family and different households.

“We have a number of cases where people are visiting family and not understanding the need to stay away unless absolutely necessary,” Dr Chant stressed.

“For the lockdown to have an effect, we need multicultural communities to be with us on the journey… and we need people to stop mingling.”

Dr Chant went on to say that vaccinations are another line of defence in the state’s emergence from lockdown and described how some general practitioners are now able to give the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines to the elderly. Mobile vaccination units are also available.

The NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, and NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazzard. Photo: The Greek Herald.

“We need to get the community vaccinated… and we need strong compliance to stop the virus from being transmitted,” Dr Chant said.

Getting the message across:

To stress this message more effectively to multicultural communities, the NSW Chief Health Officer explained that now is the time to “re-engage” and tailor COVID-19 information through government departments such as Multicultural NSW.

An attendee from the media then asked why they weren’t getting enough of this information in the first place to pass on to their audiences.

The NSW Health Minister answered and said that if departments such as Multicultural NSW weren’t getting COVID-19 messages across effectively, “we will contact them and make sure they’re doing it better.”

Mr Hazzard then went on to ask everyone in attendance what specific messages they believed would resonate with multicultural communities and “how best we can do that.”

Vaccinations and the recent state lockdown was discussed online.

A number of responses filtered through including reaching out to multicultural newspapers, radio stations and community groups, creating social videos for the elderly, giving local police a bigger role and even reaching out to political and religious leaders in the community.

‘Effective communication is vital’:

In response, the Shadow Minister for Multiculturalism, Small Business and Property, Steve Kamper MP, issued a statement this afternoon stating that “the NSW Government has rallied to play catch up in communicating COVID health and safety information in languages other than English, and in particular to South Western Sydney residents.”

“COVID safety resources have been prepared in many languages, but they have not been communicated through to the people who need them,” Mr Kamper said.

“Older people who don’t have good English and may not be skilled at using the Internet have been finding it particularly difficult to get information they can understand.”

The Shadow Minister goes on to say, however, that it is still good to see the NSW Government taking the time today to talk with multicultural communities.

“It is good to see that the Government are finally taking urgent steps today to enlist the multicultural newspapers, radio stations and community groups, as well as asking younger members of our multicultural communities to share information across their social media networks,” he said.

“This is a difficult time and effective communication with all our community groups is vital to managing this highly infectious COVID-19 Delta-variant outbreak.”

Advertisement

Share:

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TGH

By subscribing you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Advertisement

Latest News

Calling all young artists: Enter The Greek Herald’s Christmas print cover competition

As the festive season approaches, The Greek Herald newspaper wants YOU to participate in its annual Christmas competition.

100-year-old’s forgotten memories revived by Constantinos Emmanuelle’s ‘Tales of Cyprus’

At the age of 100, George Michael’s memory is fading but when he held Tales of Cyprus – A tribute to a bygone era (V2).

Pan-Laconian Association of NSW fundraise for Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation

The Pan-Laconian Association NSW "The Spartans" hosted their Annual Dinner Dance 2024 on Saturday, raising over $6000 for the SCHF.

Nick Reece claims victory in race for Melbourne Lord Mayor

Nick Reece has been elected as Melbourne's new Lord Mayor, having run alongside incumbent councillor Roshena Campbell on a shared ticket.

Greek Democritus Workers League holds visual exhibition on Greek Australian life

The fourth annual Equinox Art Exhibition, titled A Visual Journey of Greek Australian Life, was held by the Greek Democritus Workers League.

You May Also Like

Paris Cockinos’ new $150,000 robot is set to transform workplace safety in Australia

Paris Cockinos from Sphere Drones is set to transform workplace safety in Australia with his new robot, named Spot.

St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Darwin resumes Sunday services

Normal service was resumed at Darwin’s St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church on Sunday with Father Joel Xanthos back at the helm.

A historic Blessing of the Waters for Port Adelaide’s Greek Orthodox Community

The Greek Orthodox Community of Port Adelaide in South Australia observed Epiphany today with the annual Blessing of the Waters ceremony.