This is absolutely poor form. The Mandarin Rhyme Time program which aimed at providing an outlet for parent and infant to bond over Mandarin and English songs has pretty much been cut. The most disgusting thing is that this happened just weeks before the Lunar New Year.
The issue was bought to the attention of the court of public opinion by Asian Australian father Osmond Chiu. He had been taking his infant son to the City of Sydney’s weekly bilingual Rhyme Time last year, and was trying to find sessions for this year and boom, couldn’t find anything. Taking it to Twitter/X, he posted up and tagged the City of Sydney account to inquire about this, and received the response that it was slashed due to community feedback. Very vague and pretty much a non response really.
The craziest and dumbest thing is – all this was done just before the Lunar New Year strikes. Very tone deaf and these were the sentiments Chiu expressed in a recent interview with City Hub:
“Cutting rhyme time just before Chinese New Year without any prior warning feels tone deaf and completely disrespectful,” he said.
“Talking up their Chinese New Year celebrations while cutting Chinese language programs makes the Council’s commitment to multiculturalism seem superficial and tokenistic.”
With the $44 million investment by the City of Sydney to give Chinatown a facelift, in a bid to attract more foot traffic, business and tourists, it is very stupid for these type of programs which bonds parent and infant together to get slashed. A program like that doesn’t cost that much for the council and it benefits the community and the large population of those who would access programs like this. When City Hub reached out to the Lord Mayor Clover Moore, she pretty much just went on about the investment in refurbishing Chinatown etc.
“In my time as Lord Mayor we have invested over $100 million in new and improved libraries that are now a wonderful community resource, with an ever-broadening scope of activities that help build and strengthen a sense of community.”
“They attract people of all ages and backgrounds, providing them with education, fun and an opportunity to meet other people.”
“We are breathing new life into Haymarket and Chinatown with a multi-million-dollar strategy to activate and improve streets and public spaces, shopfronts, parks and lighting,”
A very tone deaf response. Other City of Sydney Councillors were also approached by community leaders, with the Lord Mayor line towed – very tone deaf too.
However, Labor Councillor Linda Scott, has taken action and created a petition to get this program back. We hope you can sign and support it, as programs like this mean so much for community cohesion, language and cultural immersion and creating familial and community bonds. You can access the petition by clicking here or go to this link: https://www.lindascott.org.au/bilingual-rhyme-time-storytime .
Let us know your thoughts on this.
Header image via Linda Scott petition page