Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was a pleasure to attend the second and now annual Galaxy Multicultural Arts Festival last Saturday. The festival was held on the grounds of Amity College, a wonderful and inclusive school in the electorate of Werriwa, catering for students from preschool to year 12. The day was a platform to engage with arts, food exhibitions and workshops like calligraphy and marbling to engage and showcase the talents and traditions of the diverse communities in our electorate.

It's very important that initiatives like this are held to allow collaboration, dialogue and the exchange of ideas. These types of community events are important to keep Australia, and our community in Werriwa, the thriving and inclusive place that it is. Days and interactions like this show the community that, as human beings, we share all the same values: love, family and peace—particularly relevant given the world at present.

I would like to personally congratulate the organising team—Mehmet Saral, Ismail and Recep Aydogan and Executive Principal of Amity College, Mehmet Koca—for the outstanding work that they did. The success of the festival was in no small part due to the hard work and dedication of the organising team. I am sure that next year the festival will go from strength to strength under their tireless leadership, and planning has already begun for next year's event.

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