Why public health practitioners and researchers must stop using the term ‘culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)’
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Date
2025-08-21
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
CSIRO Publishing
Rights
(c) 2025 The Author/s
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Abstract
The term ‘culturally and linguistically diverse’ (CALD) is used in Australia to describe some groups of migrants. Implicitly, the term defines ‘others’ who are ‘different’ to the dominant normative Australian. The use of the term as standard language in health literature and public discourse has increased dramatically over the past decade. Australians who are labelled as CALD have argued that the term affects their sense of belonging to the Australian community. As public health researchers and practitioners, we must minimise potential risks of harm, maximise health benefits and ensure the rigour of our data collection, analysis and reporting methods. We argue that we must refrain from continuing to use this concept and that there is no need for a new label to categorise some members of our diverse Australian population as ‘others’.
Description
Keywords
diversity, equity, ethics, inclusive language, migrants, public health, refugees, social cohesion
Citation
Pourmarzi D, Murray L, Zulfiqar T, Kaur G, Olsen A. (2025). Why public health practitioners and researchers must stop using the term ‘culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)’. Public Health Research and Practice. 35. 3.