A CANBERRA Liberals government will move multicultural affairs into the chief minister’s directorate, saying they’ll create a Multicultural Office for economic development.

The party says the office will build on the strong international connections of multicultural Canberrans to create new jobs, investment in Canberra, and to strengthen the local economy.

The Canberra Liberals say they’ll also work closely with Canberra’s multicultural communities to re-imagine the Multicultural Festival.

“This will include greater consultation with multicultural groups to set a new vision for the future of this festival. We will review pricing to ensure that no groups are priced out of participating,” says a Canberra Liberals spokesperson.

These commitments come a couple of weeks after Liberal leader Alistair Coe pledged to build a multicultural centre in Gungahlin, which will hold a capacity of about 1500 people, and will be for staging multicultural events and celebrations, performances, festivals, community forums and art exhibitions. He pledged $7 million to build it.

Mr Coe says Canberra is an increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse city.

“We want Canberra, and the ACT economy, to be inclusive of everyone, regardless of their background,” he says.

Liberal spokeswoman for multicultural affairs Elizabeth Kikkert says more than 30 per cent of ACT residents were born overseas and nearly half of all Canberrans have one or both parents born overseas.

“Many culturally and linguistically diverse Canberrans sense that things aren’t as good as they could be, and multicultural community leaders are united in expressing a sense of neglect,” Mrs Kikkert says.

“Communities have outgrown existing facilities and struggle to find, or build, their own venues. Peak bodies feel ignored, and genuine, respectful consultation is lacking. Smaller communities struggle with the high cost of operating in the ACT and participating in community events.

“And many multicultural organisations report that their members struggle to access government services and information, including older people and those with limited English.”

The Canberra Liberals say they’ll also improve language education for high school students in specialised language hubs, make public service announcements more accessible for non-English speaking residents and will improve access to interpreter services across essential services including health and justice.