Our commitment to social cohesion

Harmony Forum

Glen Eira City Council Harmony Forum was held on 4 September 2024 at Glen Eira City Council town hall. Hosted by Council and our Multicultural Advisory Committee, the Forum focused on celebrating diversity, improving access and inclusion, and leveraging local knowledge to address social challenges and promote social cohesion within the community.  

Upstander Training  

In partnership with Courage to Care Victoria (a not-for-profit local community organisation), Council delivered Upstander Training on 7 November 2024 to local service providers. The training was part of our continued commitment and actions toward zero-tolerance approach to racism and discrimination. 

The main objective of the training was to assist participants to transform bystander behaviour to upstander.  

Resilience Against Racism workshops  

Council partnered with Resilience Against Racism and Glen Eira Adult Learning Centre and delivered three Anti-Racism Workshops in June and July 2024 to support those affected by racism – directly or indirectly.  These evidence-based workshops equipped participants with skills to cope with racism incidents.  

Action against racism and discrimination 

Together We Stand

At Glen Eira, we take a zero-tolerance approach to racism. As a commitment to this we have taken the following actions:

• Adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism and became the first Local Government authority in Victoria to adopt the IHRA definition in its entirety: Council adopts IHRA definition of antisemitism
• Hosted the Together We Stand breakfast forum in 2019 inpartnership with the Anti-Defamation Commission and developed and signed the below joint statement.
• Website hosting of the Reporting Racism Tool for the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission
• Official endorsement of anti-racism campaign: It stops with me

Together We Stand joint statement

As community leaders we recognise that we have a responsibility to build a society that celebrates difference and promotes harmonious coexistence among peoples of varying religious faiths, ethnicities, genders, ages, sexual orientation and walks of life.

Together We Stand, united in our support for the freedom of individuals to express their religious and cultural beliefs and practices in safety, by:

• Declaring that all forms of racism and discrimination directed at people on the basis of their culture, faith, gender, age, ability or sexuality are fundamentally incompatible with Australia’s enduring ideals and values of inclusivity, pluralism and respect.
• Speaking out to challenge and confront bigotry and discrimination whenever and wherever it surfaces.
• Educating and raising awareness so as to promote harmony, inclusion and the vital importance of always standing up to hatred.

We pledge to work together across our communities, to embrace an Australia which revels in its diversity and ensures dignity and opportunity for all.

We have recently developed a series of videos, highlighting the work we and our partners are undertaking to take action against racism and discrimination in all its forms.