Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to inform the House that Nowruz is being celebrated all around the world at the moment and with great effect in my electorate of Parramatta. Nowruz is the celebration of New Year. It celebrates the vernal equinox, known as the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere and usually the March equinox in the southern hemisphere. It has been celebrated for over 3,000 years and the word Nowruz itself means 'new day'. I have celebrated it in the last couple of weeks with my Iranian community, my Afghani community and next week I am with my Afghani community again. Last night I celebrated it with my Azerbaijani community and some of my Turkish community, which also celebrate it.

I would like to acknowledge some of the people that made the event so successful. Jafar Ashik, the Consulate for the Republic of Turkey attended. There was Arax Hasiyev, delegate for the Azerbaijani Embassy. Dursun Candemir, President of the New South Wales Council of Turkish Associations was there, as was Omer Can Sirikei, Imametdin Kassoumov, Ali Ulutas and Ali Ozer. It was a great event once again, as it has been several times in my electorate that the green shoots were around. The placing on the table of sprouting wheat is a tradition that is shared right across the world when this event is celebrated and they were there again last night. Happy New Year.

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