Celebrating Cultural Diversity Week

This week marked Cultural Diversity Week with an annual Cultural Lunch hosted by the Development Victoria Cultural Diversity Working Group.

The team came together to show support and celebrate the rich and cultural background of the workplace.

Development Victoria staff shared delicious global flavours prepared by teammates and took the time to learn about the cultural significance behind each dish.

Following the lunch, an exciting panel hosted by Acting Senior Project Manager Ramzi Tawil featured 4 guest speakers - exploring the theme of genuine community engagement.

The panelists were:

• Tammy Nguyen, CEO, Vietnamese Museum
• Zameneh Khoshdel, Associate Director- Building services team manager, AECOM - Head of Program at MAPP
• Karan Bangera, Development Contributions Planner, Melton City Council
• Gerhana Waty, Director and Partner, Hansen Partnership

The panel discussed what cultural diversity means to them, highlighting identity, displacement, lived experience and belonging. They emphasised that meaningful cultural engagement must go beyond tokenism, and requires early codesign, genuine listening and recognising community expertise.

The group shared examples across planning, design and community development that showed how inclusive processes lead to better, more culturally responsive places – such as the Vietnamese Museum Australia.

They highlighted the need for diverse leadership and decision making in organisations across the industry and encouraged moving from celebration to structural changes in how projects are planned, procured, and delivered.

Development Victoria thanks everyone who participated in the event.