The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit which requires mutual understanding, friendship, solidarity and fair play.

Multiculturalism is a policy based on rights and responsibilities, which has been endorsed by Australian governments for managing a unified nation, which is culturally diverse. It is a policy that relies on mutual respect, whereby members of Australia's diverse communities respect each others' differences.

Sydney's Bid for the 2000 Olympic Games promoted the city's cultural diversity.

In September 1993, SOCOG Board Vice President and Sydney's Lord Mayor, Frank Sartor, was Quoted:

"A Sydney Games in 2000 could provide the platform for a millennium of multiracial and multicultural harmony. Australian's policy of encouraging the maintenance of cultural diversity in a harmonious society, which was nevertheless united in its patriotism, could be a blueprint for the way the whole world should conduct itself in the next millennium. Australia, whose immigration policy in recent years has encouraged migrants from all over the world, is living proof that harmonious diversity is as achievable as it is desirable."

• Australia is considered the most multicultural country in the world.

• Currently there are people from over 160 countries living in Australia.

• Over 70 languages are spoken, not including Aboriginal dialects.

• Forty per cent of the Australian population are migrants or are the children of migrants.

• At 30 June 1995, 23 per cent of the Australian population was born overseas, while 13.7 per cent of Australians were born in non-English speaking countries.

SOCOG has recognised the significance of the multicultural community to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games by establishing a Multicultural Affairs program, to support the MAC and to work across SOCOG and the Paralympic Games in implementing policies which embrace all Australians.

The Multicultural Affairs Program is responsible for:

• developing an overall multicultural action plan for SOCOG, which has been approved by the SOCOG board. The committee looked across all program areas of SOCOG and the Paralympic Games and developed strategies which will enable the multicultural community to play a vital role;

• consulting with other State and Territory Ethnic Affairs Commissions and their equivalents to ensure appropriate multicultural representation in SOCOG and Paralympic-generated events;

• working with SOCOG's Volunteer Program to ensure that among the volunteer intake there will be representation from the many diverse communities, maximising the various language skills and cultural knowledge that those groups can bear as volunteers;

• arranging a series of multicultural community consultations both in NSW and other States and Territories at which SOCOG will inform and involve all communities; and

• ensuring that SOCOG now conducts regular briefings with Australia's ethnic media organisations.