How are multicultural communities experiencing government services in NSW?
We asked multicultural communities in NSW about their experiences interacting with different government services, including how easy they found their interaction with the service, how satisfied they were with their service experience, and to what extent they trusted the service to be working in their best interests.
Here’s what multicultural communities told us
of multicultural communities find it easy to interact with NSW Government services.
of multicultural communities are satisfied with their experience with NSW Government services.
of multicultural communities trust NSW Government services are working in their best interests.
About multicultural communities in NSW
In NSW, we come from many varied ancestries, speak around 215 languages and dialects, and follow a wide range of different religious beliefs. Our communities are becoming more diverse, and with this comes the responsibility to develop services for and with our multicultural communities. Creating services that are more accessible and responsive to the changing needs of our society ensures that we are truly reflecting the community we serve now and into the future.
people in NSW speak a language other than English at home, representing 27% of the state's population.1
is the most common language (3.4%) after English. Followed by Arabic (2.8%), Cantonese (1.8%), and Vietnamese (1.5%).1
Around
languages and dialects are spoken.2
And the community consists of people born in
different countries or territories.3
How well are we delivering on our Customer Commitments to multicultural communities?
The NSW Customer Commitments are our promise to customers on what to expect when interacting with our services. These commitments help us to put customers at the heart of our services and everything we do.
There are 6 Commitments that our services seek to deliver on for customers: easy to access, act with empathy, respect my time, explain what to expect, resolve the situation, and engage the community.
Here’s what multicultural communities told us based on their experience
- Easy to access
- Act with empathy
- Respect my time
- Explain what to expect
- Resolve the situation
- Engage the community
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81% of customers surveyed with a multicultural background found government services easy to access.
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75% of customers surveyed with a multicultural background agreed that services delivered on our commitment to act with empathy.
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70% of customers surveyed with a multicultural background agreed that their time was respected throughout their service experience.
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74% of customers surveyed with a multicultural background agreed that services explained what to expect.
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79% of customers surveyed with a multicultural background agreed that their situation was resolved.
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60% of customers surveyed with a multicultural background agreed that the government is engaging with customers to ask for feedback and how they want services to be delivered.
Case study
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Collaborating with multicultural communities
The NSW Government and multicultural community groups worked together on the design and delivery of COVID-19 relief efforts.
Find out more about the report
Source:
1 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS): 2021 Census of Population and Housing. Persons: Language other than English used at home - New South Wales.
2 About us webpage, Multicultural NSW website.
3 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS): 34090DO002_202021 Australia's Population by Country of Birth, Estimated resident population, New South Wales, as at 30 June 2016.
CXS Source: NSW Government Customer Experience Survey (CXS). About the survey methodology.
Fieldwork: January to June 2022.
Questions: Thinking about your experience with the government service…
- How easy or difficult was it to do this?
- How satisfied or dissatisfied were you with this experience?
- To what extent do you trust the government service to be working in your best interests?
- We would like your opinion on [CUSTOMER COMMITMENT]. Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with each of the statements below.
Base: People that speak a language other than English (LOTE) at home who have interacted with government services in the last 12 months.
Sample sizes: Ease and Satisfaction (n=1758), Trust (n=1774), Customer Commitments (various n=1423 to 1774).
Definitions and notes:
- Ease of service is calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Very easy’ or ‘Somewhat easy’.
- Satisfaction with service is calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Very satisfied’ or ‘Somewhat satisfied’.
- Trust in service is calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Trust a great deal’ or ‘Somewhat trust’.
- Responses to the Customer Commitment questions are calculated as the percentage of customers that selected ‘Strongly agree’ or ‘Somewhat agree’ and it excludes ‘Not applicable’ responses.
- The NSW Government Customer Experience Survey (CXS) captures feedback from people who speak a Language Other Than English (LOTE). The survey is conducted online in English, and as such may not provide a full representation of customers from a multicultural background.