It’s disappointing that the annual multicultural festival has been cancelled this year with no alternative event planned by the Government,” Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs Giulia Jones said today.

“I think there was an opportunity for the ACT Government to come up with a creative and safe alternative to the usual format that would have allowed us to celebrate our fantastic multicultural communities,” said Mrs Jones.

“The Minister as recently as November said that the event would be postponed, but now we learn they’ve given up completely.

“The Minister should have been more upfront from the beginning.

“Many multicultural communities will be disappointed and the opportunity to raise some much needed money for small community groups has been lost,” Mrs Jones concluded.