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Voices, Choices and Futures

MDAA National Conference 2026

Celebrating 30 years of Advocacy

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Multicultural Disability Advocacy Australia

MDAA is the NSW peak advocacy organisation for multicultural people with disability. We provide culturally safe, independent advocacy to help people understand their rights, resolve problems, and navigate complex systems.

Since 1995, we have worked with people with disability, families, and carers across NSW to improve access to services, strengthen inclusion, and support better outcomes.

We support communities across metro, regional, and remote areas and work to improve systems so people are treated fairly and with respect.

Our Vision

“To permanently anchor inclusion and nurture strength in diversity.”

Our Mission

“To explore inclusive pathways and exchange informed ideas that honour and embrace the unique experiences shaped by diversity.”

Our Strategic Plan 2026-29

Annual Report 2024-2025

MDAA Community Map

Where larger multicultural communities are concentrated across NSW

Explore areas across NSW and select a location to view the languages and communities strongly represented there.

Choose a place

Select a location from the list or map to view the community profile for that area.

This area centres on Parramatta and Cumberland, including major Indian community centres around Harris Park and Wentworthville. Parramatta includes Mandarin 12.4%, Cantonese 6.4%, Korean 5.5%, Hindi 3.7% and Arabic 3.2%. Cumberland includes Arabic 14.1%, Mandarin 6.7%, Nepali 4.4%, Cantonese 4.0% and Tamil 3.3%. Across this corridor, Indian communities are especially visible through Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati and Punjabi language use and cultural life around Harris Park and Wentworthville. The wider Parramatta and Cumberland area also includes Arabic-speaking, Nepali, Korean, Persian and Dari-speaking communities, while the Auburn corridor has a long-recognised Turkish community history.

Blacktown includes Punjabi 6.4%, Hindi 4.0%, Arabic 3.4%, Tagalog 3.3% and Tamil 3.1%. This western growth corridor has strong South Asian, Filipino and Pacific Islander community presence and reflects housing growth, family migration and outward settlement across western Sydney. It also includes established African communities, including South Sudanese, Somali and Eritrean communities, together with newer Dari and Hazaraghi-speaking communities linked to more recent refugee and family settlement.

Penrith includes Arabic 1.8%, Punjabi 1.4%, Tagalog 1.2%, Hindi 1.1% and Mandarin 0.8%. This outer western edge of Greater Sydney has growing South Asian, Filipino, Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander communities, linked to new housing, outward migration and major transport connections to the rest of Sydney. In parts of the corridor, including around St Marys, Pacific Islander communities are especially visible.

This area covers The Hills Shire. ABS 2021 shows Mandarin 8.2%, Cantonese 3.4%, Hindi 2.8%, Korean 2.1% and Arabic 2.0%. The Hills reflects skilled migration, family settlement, school access and suburban growth, with strong Chinese-speaking, South Asian and Korean communities.

This area covers Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown. Fairfield includes Vietnamese 21.1%, Arabic 9.3%, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic 7.8%, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic 4.0%, Cantonese 3.7% and Khmer 3.3%. Canterbury-Bankstown includes Arabic 17.2%, Vietnamese 7.5%, Mandarin 5.1%, Greek 4.7% and Cantonese 3.7%. Liverpool includes Arabic 13.1%, Vietnamese 5.3%, Hindi 3.4%, Serbian 2.3% and Spanish 2.1%. This part of Sydney reflects long-running migrant and refugee settlement across multiple generations, including Vietnamese, Cambodian, Assyrian, Arabic-speaking and other refugee and migrant communities. Fairfield also includes longstanding Chilean community history around Bossley Park, Wetherill Park and Wakeley, while Iraqi and Assyrian identities remain especially visible across parts of Fairfield and Liverpool.

This area covers Campbelltown, Camden and Wollondilly. Campbelltown includes Bengali 4.2%, Arabic 4.2%, Nepali 2.5%, Hindi 2.1% and Samoan 1.8%. Camden includes Arabic 2.3%, Spanish 1.6%, Hindi 1.5% and Punjabi 1.1%. This south-west growth corridor reflects newer migration linked to housing growth, family settlement and outward movement from inner South West Sydney, with visible South Asian, Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander communities and strong growth in places connected to Campbelltown.

This area covers Inner West, Burwood, Canada Bay and Strathfield. Burwood includes Mandarin 19.9%, Cantonese 8.2%, Nepali 7.3%, Arabic 3.5% and Italian 3.3%. Strathfield includes Mandarin 10.3%, Nepali 6.7%, Cantonese 6.6%, Korean 6.3% and Arabic 5.1%. Canada Bay includes Mandarin 8.6%, Italian 6.0%, Cantonese 3.9%, Korean 3.2% and Greek 2.1%. This corridor reflects older Italian and Greek migration alongside strong Chinese-speaking, Korean, Nepali and Vietnamese communities, with Brazilian, Colombian and other Latin American communities also visible across inner-city and education-linked areas.

This area covers the City of Sydney. ABS 2021 shows Mandarin 8.9%, Cantonese 2.9%, Thai 2.9%, Spanish 2.4% and Indonesian 2.1%. Central Sydney reflects migration linked to study, hospitality, health, tourism, professional work and inner-city renting, with strong international student and migrant worker presence. It also includes smaller Latin American communities and more recent Ukrainian arrivals since 2022, but these are more dispersed than the larger established settlement patterns elsewhere in Sydney.

This area covers Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick and Bayside. Waverley includes Spanish 2.9%, Russian 1.9%, French 1.9%, Portuguese 1.8% and Italian 1.6%. Randwick City Council's 2021 community profile shows Mandarin 3.7% as the leading language other than English in Randwick City, with 27.8% of residents using a non-English language at home. Bayside includes Mandarin 6.9%, Greek 6.0%, Arabic 5.4%, Cantonese 3.7% and Spanish 2.8%. This area reflects long-standing Jewish and European communities together with later migration linked to universities, health services, the airport corridor and coastal employment.

This area covers Willoughby, Lane Cove, North Sydney, Mosman, Ryde, Hunters Hill, Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby. Willoughby includes Mandarin 12.9%, Cantonese 7.8%, Japanese 2.4%, Korean 2.3% and Hindi 1.4%. Ryde includes Mandarin 13.8%, Cantonese 7.2% and Korean 4.5%. Hornsby includes Mandarin 9.2%, Cantonese 4.1%, Korean 2.3%, Hindi 2.2% and Persian 1.4%. Chatswood is one of the clearest Chinese-speaking centres in Sydney, and this wider northern corridor reflects long-term professional and family migration linked to schools, universities and major employment hubs, with Persian-speaking communities also present across parts of northern Sydney.

This area covers Northern Beaches Council. ABS 2021 shows Mandarin 1.3%, Portuguese 1.3%, Italian 1.2%, Spanish 1.2% and French 1.0%. This coastal area has a lighter multilingual profile than much of Greater Sydney, with European, South American, South African and other migrant communities spread across the peninsula.

This area covers Georges River and Sutherland Shire. Georges River includes Mandarin 12.8%, Cantonese 9.4%, Nepali 5.7%, Greek 5.2% and Arabic 3.7%. This corridor reflects strong Chinese-speaking communities around Hurstville and surrounding suburbs, alongside longstanding Greek settlement and later Nepali and Arabic-speaking migration across southern Sydney.

This area sits on the western edge of Greater Sydney. Blue Mountains has a lighter multilingual profile, with Spanish 0.6%, German 0.5%, Mandarin 0.3%, French 0.3% and Italian 0.3%. Its migration history is more dispersed than the larger Sydney concentration areas, but it remains closely linked to Western Sydney through transport, work and service connections.

City of Coffs Harbour includes Punjabi 2.3%, Kurdish 0.5%, Mandarin 0.5%, German 0.4% and Spanish 0.3%. Woolgoolga sits within this broader North Coast area. NSW Government information for the Sikh Heritage Museum in Woolgoolga notes the story of the first Sikh settlers in Australia and the growth of Woolgoolga's Sikh community. This remains one of the clearest long-running migrant community histories in regional NSW.

Multicultural NSW treats Hunter and Central Coast as one regional engagement area. In the Newcastle LGA in 2021, 10.5% of people used a language other than English at home and 15% were born overseas. City of Newcastle's 2021 community factsheet records more than 80 languages spoken at home, with Mandarin, Macedonian, Arabic, Greek, Italian, Filipino or Tagalog and Vietnamese among the larger language groups. Newcastle also marked 10 years as a Refugee Welcome Zone in 2025.

Multicultural NSW treats New England and North West as one regional engagement area. Tamworth Regional includes Mandarin 0.7%, Vietnamese 0.6%, Tagalog 0.5%, Punjabi 0.4% and Nepali 0.3%. Armidale Regional includes Kurdish 0.9%, Nepali 0.9%, Mandarin 0.7%, Arabic 0.4% and Bengali 0.4%. Tamworth Regional Council describes Fiesta La Peel as the New England's largest multicultural event, while Armidale Regional Council points to active migrant and refugee settlement services across the New England area and publicly celebrated its diverse multicultural community through the 2025 Global Gathering.

Wollongong City includes Macedonian 2.1% and Arabic 1.4%. This remains one of the more visible multilingual pockets outside Sydney on the south coast, with older European community links and newer migrant settlement visible across the city and university-linked areas.

Wagga Wagga includes Kurdish 1.0%, Malayalam 0.8%, Mandarin 0.6%, Arabic 0.5% and Punjabi 0.4%. Wagga Wagga City Council says 6.7% of residents were born overseas and over 30% of residents are able to speak a language other than English. NSW Government health information for the Murrumbidgee also points to dedicated refugee and multicultural support in Wagga Wagga through the Multicultural Council of Wagga Wagga and refugee health services.

Griffith includes Italian 4.9%, Punjabi 3.7%, Gujarati 3.5%, Samoan 1.2% and Mandarin 1.0%. Griffith City Council states its Italian Migration Heritage Trail was created to acknowledge the contribution of Griffith's Italian community and the impact of migration to the area across almost a century. This makes Griffith one of the strongest long-established multicultural centres in inland NSW, with both older Italian settlement and newer South Asian community growth clearly visible in the ABS data.

Multicultural NSW treats Western NSW as a distinct regional engagement area. Dubbo Regional is one of the clearer multicultural centres in this part of the state, with Nepali 1.4%, Punjabi 0.7%, Malayalam 0.4%, Urdu 0.3% and Mandarin 0.3%. The broader ABS Far West and Orana area also shows Nepali, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tagalog and Filipino among the larger languages spoken at home outside English, suggesting migrant settlement is present across the wider inland west even where it is more spread out than in Sydney or the Riverina.

Far West NSW is more dispersed than other parts of regional NSW, so the migrant profile is smaller and more thinly spread. In the ABS Far West and Orana area, the larger languages spoken at home outside English were Nepali 0.7%, Punjabi 0.3%, Malayalam 0.3%, Tagalog 0.2% and Filipino 0.2%. Broken Hill itself shows Filipino 0.4%, Tagalog 0.4%, Italian 0.3%, Malayalam 0.2% and Arabic 0.2%. This is a lighter but still visible multicultural profile rather than a major concentration pocket.

Greater Sydney

Select a Greater Sydney area to view the community profile for that part of Sydney.

NSW context

Select a NSW hotspot to explore the broader regional profile.

Data is drawn from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census, supported by Multicultural NSW regional profiles and local council community data.

Real outcomes

Noodle the MDAA chicken 🐔

Noodle had escaped from a place that was not kind. For nights it wandered through backstreets and quiet parks, hiding under trees and listening to the sounds of the city.

One evening, after a long journey, Noodle arrived at MDAA. Tired and hungry, it quietly asked for help. The team welcomed Noodle, recognising its courage.

With care and support, a safe place was found. Noodle’s story is a simple reminder of what advocacy is about — safety, dignity, and the chance to move forward.