Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Much like the member for Leichhardt, I rise here today to pay tribute to our wonderful, diverse community in Bennelong, who have just ended two weeks of extraordinary celebrations of the Lunar New Year. In Bennelong, we're so lucky to have such a large, diverse community: 28.8 per cent have Chinese ancestry, above the New South Wales average of 7.2 per cent; and 6.1 per cent have Korean ancestry, well above the New South Wales average of 0.9 per cent. This year was the Year of the Rabbit for the Chinese and Korean communities. The rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace and prosperity, and 2023 is predicted to be a year of hope.

Boy oh boy, did we celebrate in Bennelong, with one month worth of celebrations, bringing together community leaders from across the spectrum. We had traditional Korean drum dancers going up and down Rowe Street, the Lunar New Year Eastwood Night Markets hosted by Kelly, visits from ministers—it was fantastic. We then had the Eastwood Chinese Senior Citizens Club's Year of the Rabbit celebrations, and congratulations to Hugh Lee, Joey Chan, and Angel Yu for putting on such a wonderful event. CASS put on a north region Chinese Aged Care Centre celebration hosted by the Chinese Australian Services Society in West Ryde, and that was fantastic as well. This all culminated in a huge extravaganza at Eastwood Oval. What a wonderful time of year!

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