The past year has seen government after government trumpet their commitment to supporting journalism and multicultural media.
At the federal level, the News Media Assistance Program promises nearly $100 million over three years to sustain diversity and public interest reporting. In New South Wales, Multicultural NSW has highlighted its own role in funding initiatives that claim to “strengthen multicultural media.”
Yet, the latest $100,000 grant awarded to Independent Multicultural Media Australia (IMMA)—an organisation headquartered in Melbourne—raises an uncomfortable question: why are taxpayer funds in New South Wales being directed outside the state, while dozens of not-for-profit multicultural outlets within NSW continue to be ignored year after year?
IMMA represents more than 45 multicultural media organisations nationwide. Its mission is broad, ambitious, and worth supporting at a national level. We at Allora! support IMMA and are proud members.
But the decision by Multicultural NSW to allocate its limited pool of state-based resources to a body with interstate headquarters feels like a slap in the face to small, community-driven and volunteer-run publications operating on shoestring budgets across Sydney, Newcastle, and regional NSW.
These local outlets—many of them totally self-sufficient—have for decades kept migrant communities informed in their own languages.
They have stepped in where mainstream media has failed, covering settlement issues, local council decisions, cultural events, and stories of grassroots resilience.
They have done so without the luxury of large grants or professional staff. Instead, they rely on passion, community support, and a profound sense of duty.
And yet, when the cheque book opens, these very organisations are left on the sidelines. The situation is even more glaring when one considers that Multicultural NSW already maintains a list of all multicultural media in the state. Despite this, not once has the agency extended a formal invitation to bring these outlets together around a table, to hear directly from the people who do the work on the ground.
The absence of even a basic round-table consultation speaks volumes about where priorities appear to lie.
Why? Is it easier for Multicultural NSW to funnel money into a single, centralised body, rather than engage with the messy, diverse ecosystem of real community publishers? Or does the rhetoric of “national coordination” simply provide cover for bureaucratic convenience?
The irony is striking. NSW prides itself on being Australia’s most culturally diverse state, with nearly one in three residents born overseas.
If anywhere requires direct investment in independent multicultural media, it is here. Instead, state funds are flowing across the border, while local editors and broadcasters—many of whom have been calling for support for years—are asked once again to do more with less.
The government cannot have it both ways. If Multicultural NSW truly values local voices, it must stop overlooking the very media outlets that embody them. Rather than outsourcing support to a Melbourne-based organisation, why not channel funding directly into NSW-based not-for-profit publishers that prove their worth on the ground?
Until that happens, the talk of inclusion and diversity risks sounding hollow. Real commitment to multicultural media means investing where it matters most: in the local, community-driven outlets that give voice to NSW’s cultural fabric every single day.
