Congratulations to Radio Tarana on its 15th year of broadcasting. Many of the 120,000-strong ethnic Indian and wider communities in New Zealand see Radio Tarana as a good source of information. New Zealand is a socially harmonious country where people from all ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds can stand shoulder to shoulder as confident, equal and proud citizens.

As Ethnic Affairs Minister, I wish to maintain this reputation recognised by the Economist when it named New Zealand as the most peaceful country in the world. Communication is important to enhance understanding and mass media is a very important communication tool.

Congratulations to the Ethnic media for ensuring our Ethnic communities are informed and entertained by offering a diverse range of content.

It is great to see the variety in our Ethnic media covering radio, print and television.

Radio stations like Tarana provide coverage that is timely, convenient and interactive, to enable listeners to maintain their spoken language, whereas as print media such as magazines and newspapers like Indian Newslink provide news and articles from an Ethnic perspective as well.

As a politician, I find Ethnic media a useful tool to reach our Ethnic communities.

It allows me to communicate information about the Government’s work for all New Zealanders and especially for Ethnic New Zealanders.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs focuses on the media and our Ethnic communities as part of its priority to enhance understanding.

The Office has run dialogues about the Ethnic media, held media bus tours, workshops and forums.

These events provided opportunities for Ethnic media to connect with the mainstream media, for community members to express their experiences interacting with the media, and a space to raise awareness of diversity issues.

One of the trends I like to see is the increasing number of Ethnic journalists working in mainstream media as well.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs is working with our Ethnic communities to encourage journalism as a career option.

The Asia New Zealand Foundation offers young journalism internships and scholarships for Asian New Zealanders studying journalism in New Zealand.

These sorts of opportunities provide a great start for our budding Ethnic journalists and provide role models for others in our Ethnic communities considering journalism as a career.

Pansy Wong is Ethnic Affairs Minister of New Zealand. She is an elected member of Parliament from the Botany Constituency in Auckland.