A cultural look at policing

Changing families: Cabramatta police multicultural liaison officer Phiny Ung says cultural and generational change can be difficult for families. Picture: Chris De Jong

26 Oct, 2011
BY JENNA DAROCZY
Fairfield City Champion (Australia)

AS A mother of four and grandmother of more, Phiny Ung has had her fair share of ups and downs in raising teenagers.

But she says they've been her best teachers in terms of helping other families in Cabramatta with troubled youth.

"My eldest was born in Cambodia, the others were born here and they never let me get away with comparing how things are here with how I was raised," she said.

"It never works because the children don't understand how different it is.

"I tell parents that here all the time. Just because they see their children as having every benefit, their kids don't understand what their parents' culture was like."

As a multicultural liaison officer with Cabramatta police, Ms Ung spends a lot of time building relationships with the Chinese, Khmer, Vietnamese and other south-east Asian families.

"For a long time when I first started, it felt a bit like being the meat in the sandwich," she said.

"The community didn't really trust the police and the police didn't really know much about the cultural groups in their community. We've come a long way since then and we have some really great relationships."

Ms Ung said one of the most fulfilling parts of her job was utilising the strong networks now in place to help new arrivals to Cabramatta.

"We're good at identifying problems and barriers for our families, and we have lots of support services," she said.

"It's just about ensuring language barriers don't stop them getting the help they need to settle in.

"At the end of the day, all families have their ups and downs.

"It can just be a lot harder when your children are growing up Australian and you don't even speak the language."