Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on last weekend's Malayali Association of Townsville end-of-harvest festival. It was truly a great day. I was there with Councillor Pat Ernst, Bishop Michael Putney and a host of beautiful people. Malayali Indians are great learners and greater travellers. Many of Townsville's doctors, nurses, surgeons, engineers and radiologists are Malayali Indians. The first Malayali Indian arrived in Townsville in 1994; there are now over 170 Malayali families in Townsville. As a matter of fact, I sold Apeson Korah, who is the head radiologist at Townsville Hospital, his house at Alligator Creek.

Like Lent and Ramadan, the end-of-harvest festival is a feast after a fast. Malayalis are like Italians and Greeks—they are all about the family, the food and having fun with children. I thank them for their friendship and for including me in their festival. I thank them most of all for not allowing me to win the water-drinking competition; I would have been ashamed if I had won that one! I thank them for the song, the dance and the food. There was this ginger chutney which you could have eaten a kilo of on your own—it was absolutely magnificent.

The Malayali Indians are what is good about immigration. They are what is good about Townsville. They are what is good about multiculturalism and diversity in this country. I thank them for their friendship, and I hope that they are there forever.

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