Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The successful multicultural society that we have around us is one of the hallmarks of Australia, and it is one of the hallmarks of my community in Berowra. I'm pleased to have the opportunity today to speak about some of the organisations and people in my community who are engaged in bolstering and celebrating and providing services to that successful multicultural Australia that we have.

The Australian Community Inspired Association Inc. was started in 2016 by a group of local people from both the Indian and Chinese communities, led by the irrepressible Bob Waller, who wanted to bring people together to work on community projects that would raise funds for important initiatives within our community and beyond— whether that's the Red Shield Appeal or the Whitelion youth support program or the local Men's Sheds. That organisation continues today and is now led by Barbara Ward, a leader in the Indian community, Bob Waller remains involved, and Wayne Lever, Gary Ward, Indu Harikrishna, Marla Mehta and Sreeni Pillamarri make up the team. They do a great job not only in providing services to communities but bringing communities together to work on projects.

One of the older community organisations in my electorate is the Cherrybrook Chinese Community Association. It's an association that goes back 32 years, and it provides a world renowned—in my view—Chinese language school and a range of Chinese cultural activities in order to provide and pass on some of the important Chinese culture, not just to the next generation of Chinese Australians but also to Australians who are interested in learning more about China. I want to congratulate the newly elected president, Kwok Ling Chau, and Jenny Lau, who has been president, on and off, for many years, Dennis Loh, James Fong, Polly Chan, Stephen Lang, Ken Ng and Peter Tong, who make up their executive.

I'm proud to be a former student of the IABBV Hindi School in my electorate, led by Marla Mehta, who is a wonderful leader in the Indian community. She had the idea back in 1987 of forming a community language school so that young Indian Australians who are growing up in an English-speaking environment wouldn't seem alien to their grandparents, because they'd have some knowledge of the language and culture of their school. The IABBV Hindi School meets on a Sunday morning at the Thornleigh West Public School. There are children and adults of all ages. I want to say to Marla: 'dhanyavaad' for all you do for the community.

One of most important and interesting events of my year usually happens on the Anzac Day weekend, but, sadly, it's not happening this year due to COVID. That is the annual festival run to commemorate Saint George by the Associazione San Giorgio Martire di Sydney—please excuse my murdering of the Italian language—by a community that has effectively transplanted itself from the town Martone region in Calabria in Italy to Australia. Why is this such a beautiful event? It's beautiful because they have a wonderful mass, they have Italian bands and they have the best food in Sydney. It is wonderful to see, across the generations, the culture being transmitted and shared. I want to acknowledge the executive of the association: George Dolores, George Maiolo, Tony and Mary Macri, Vince Murdocca and Andrew Papallo.

Perhaps the oldest ethnic community in my electorate is the Lebanese community, who have been here since the early 1900s. They congregate particularly around the St George Maronite Catholic Church in Thornleigh. It's a beautiful community that this April celebrate 20 years of the new church. Their original church, St Joachim's, goes back to the 1900s. The Lebanese Maronite community have been worshipping at that church since that time. It is not the only interesting Christian community in my electorate. I'm proud to have a Coptic Orthodox community at Galston, led by Father Barsoum and Father Abdelmalik; a Greek Orthodox church in Thornleigh, led by the Reverend Andrew Ioannou; as well as Sri Lankan, Korean, Baha'i, Polish, Russian and, increasingly, Persian communities. So I'm very lucky to represent a diverse electorate.

In my remaining time to speak, I wanted to mention a related day to Harmony Week, and that is Harmony Day, which is marked by Moving Forward Together, a project that came out of the B'nai B'rith in Sydney, led by Ernie Friedlander. For several years, they've run a poster competition, an annual walk and now a songwriting competition to encourage people towards the idea that it is important for us as a community to celebrate diversity—that part of being a decent society is to be a society that caters to all, regardless of their colour, cultural origin or religion. That is a beautiful sentiment that I know Ernie and his committee pursue in their various activities very strongly, as they have done for many years. Let me commend this motion and commend all the multicultural communities in my electorate.

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