Steps towards greater understanding
Australia is a multicultural nation, and Maurice Blackburn
continued to work towards better embracing cultures with the launch
of the firm's Guide to Religious and Spiritual Diversity.
The guide was developed by the firm's lawyers Azmeena Hussain
and Jacinta Lewin in consultation with the Australian Multicultural
Foundation, and focuses on the nine most popular religions and
spiritualities in Australia.
The aim of the guide is to further raise awareness of and
educate staff about religious and spiritual beliefs in our society,
and in turn allowing staff to better understand and continuously
improve their working relationships.
It is a practical guide designed to help staff in their everyday
work, and has details about greetings, protocols for interviewing,
the most appropriate way of communicating with someone of the
opposite gender, and how someone each religion or spirituality
would prefer to take an oath or affirmation.
Maurice Blackburn also opened its doors to Indigenous barristers
to mark NAIDOC Week, and many lawyers took the opportunity to
attend a networking lunch in our Melbourne office where they met
Victorian Bar Indigenous Lawyers Committee Chairman Daniel Star and
several Indigenous barristers.
NAIDOC Week's traditions are traced back to the 1920s, when
Aboriginal groups sought to increase awareness in the wider
community of the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians.
Maurice Blackburn has been doing the same thing for many years,
especially through landmark legal cases such as the Aboriginal
Stockman's case and the current Muckaty Station land rights
issue.