Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Last month, Parramatta celebrated Thai Pongal. Thai Pongal is a four-day harvest festival where the Tamil community come together to give thanks for a successful harvest and to celebrate life. I look forward usually to songs, dancing, poetry and fun every year. Unfortunately, this year in January, I was camping out in the desert, where there's no phone signal. I took a couple of weeks west of the Nullarbor, so I missed the Pongal celebrations, but I want to acknowledge the events that took place in my electorate. The Jaffna Hindu College Old Boys' Association once again celebrated in Civic Park, and I thank the vice president, Sivabalasingam Rishikesan, for the invitation. Thanks also go to John Kennedy from the Sydney Tamil Manram for the invitation to Pongal Vizha this year. I'm sorry to have missed that too. And, last but not least, my apologies to Parramatta's Community Migrant Resource Centre for missing the huge celebrations in Centenary Square. I was particularly upset about this one, but luckily I was able to watch the beautiful performances through Facebook Live when I returned.

Better late than never, we will be celebrating Thai Pongal in parliament next week. I will be hosting our annual Thai Pongal celebrations with the Tamil Arts and Culture Association. Thanks goes to Anagan Babu and his team of volunteers for all the work they have done in the lead-up to the event. I know it's going to be wonderful. I hope everyone who celebrated Pongal had a great time with family and friends, and I'm really looking forward to celebrating next week here in the parliament.

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