Belonging, Access and Trust: Key Findings from the Hunter Multicultural Fiesta 2026
Hunter Multicultural Communities (HMC) has released its 2026 Fiesta Festival Survey Report, documenting the experiences of attendees at the annual Multicultural Fiesta Festival in the Hunter region. The report is based on 253 survey responses collected from an estimated 6,000 attendees, covering topics including belonging, access to services, and community priorities.
About the Festival and the Survey
The Multicultural Fiesta Festival is an annual event hosted by HMC, the recognised regional multicultural peak body for Northern NSW. The survey was conducted by five volunteers across the site over five hours. Respondents spoke one of 27 languages, 69 per cent were women, and 52 per cent were aged between 35 and 64. Slightly more respondents were born in Australia (57 per cent) than overseas (43 per cent).
Community Experience
Responses on belonging and inclusion were consistently positive across language and birthplace groups. Ninety-eight per cent of respondents said they felt welcome and culturally safe at the festival, and the same proportion said they would attend again. Ninety-two per cent reported a sense of belonging, and 94 per cent said they trust HMC to advocate for multicultural communities. Eighty-five per cent said they learned about a service they had not previously known about.
Access to and Respect Within Services
While access to services was generally reported as strong, the survey identified gaps in how services are experienced across cultural groups. Health services and schools showed consistent results across both Australian-born and overseas-born respondents. Legal and family services showed clearer gaps, with overseas-born respondents reporting feeling more understood and respected. The largest gap was identified with police services, where Australian-born respondents were more likely to report that services do not respect different cultures.
Awareness of available services also varied. People who speak a language other than English were more likely to know about police and family services, while English-only speakers reported higher awareness of interpreter services and legal supports. Schools were well understood across all groups.
Jobs, Training and Community Priorities
The survey also measured awareness of TAFE and Net Zero job and training opportunities. Overall awareness of TAFE was high (85 per cent), though lower among overseas-born respondents (45 per cent). Understanding of Net Zero opportunities increased by 25 points among multilingual participants after attending Fiesta.
When asked what single area needed the most improvement, respondents identified voice in decision-making, police and safety, and transport as the top three priorities. CALD respondents also raised jobs, health, transport and housing affordability, while Australian-born respondents more frequently raised police, education and having a voice in decisions.
Next Steps
HMC has indicated it will use the survey findings to strengthen its advocacy to government and service providers, with a focus on improving cultural engagement in services, increasing awareness of existing supports, building trust in key services such as policing and legal support, and including community voice more meaningfully in decision-making.
The full HMC Fiesta Festival Survey Report 2026 is available HERE.
