John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last Saturday I was delighted to attend the Australian Asian Association of Bennelong's annual dinner. As I told the House last week, the AAAB performs a terrific job in building bridges across diverse cultures within our region. The highlight of the annual dinner was the presentation of the 2011 Multicultural Citizen of the Year award, won by Ricky Lui. Ricky was born in Hong Kong and migrated to Sydney in the early eighties. Ricky has been an active member of the local community and, through his role with Dixon Street business leaders, helped to form a stronger, more united voice for Sydney's Chinatown businesses. These steps have led to the wonderful Lunar New Year celebration we now celebrate in a true testament to our embrace of multiculturalism.

Ricky operates a small business in Eastwood with his wife, Julie, and serves as Vice President of the Eastwood Chamber of Commerce as well as Treasurer of the Ryde Lunar New Year Committee. He is actively involved with many community organisations, including AAAB, provides local schools with free line-dancing exhibitions for Harmony Day and holds twice-monthly classical Chinese poem appreciation classes. Ricky was nominated for this award by his Eastwood business colleague and my good friend Albert Yun. Ricky Lui is a very worthy winner of the Multicultural Citizen of the Year Award, and I commend him for the great role he plays in our community.

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