Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Wednesday, 30 August I was proud to attend the formal inauguration of Bhavan Australia’s Institute of Arts and Culture and the Gandhi Institute of Computer and Information Technology at Sydney Olympic Park.

The international organisation Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, or ‘Bhavan’ for short, is one of the largest non-government organisations in the world, with 115 centres in India and centres in seven other nations around the world. In its 65-year history, it has evolved into a voluntary, apolitical Indian national movement with an international outlook devoted to life, literature and culture. Our Australian Indian community brought this extraordinary organisation to Australia five years ago when it formed Bhavan Australia. Its Sydney centre was inaugurated in 2003 and was the first centre in the Asia-Pacific Region and the seventh international centre.

Bhavan Australia is a fascinating addition to the group of not-for-profit organisations that serve our communities. Grounded as it is in Indian cultural beliefs and traditions, the philanthropic goals of Bhavan are that, through the promotion of faith, self-discipline and dedication among its followers and those they seek to help, it aims to revitalise dharma’s threefold aspects of truth, love and beauty.

Bhavan Australia is guided by the short prayer of one of the greatest human beings of the 20th century, Mahatma Gandhi: ‘Let noble thoughts come to us from every side’—a fabulous motto for a new Australian organisation. May it flourish here and achieve all the good works that its founders envisaged.

I am proud to inform this House of new initiatives announced by Bhavan Australia for its Sydney centre at Olympic Park. Firstly, the Bhavan Institute of Arts and Culture is now open. Prospective students can already take classes in the Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and Tamil languages; in music and dance—both classical and folk—and in the art of yoga. Plans are under way to expand the centre’s range of courses. Secondly, Bhavan Australia has opened the Gandhi Institute of Computer and Information Technology Australia, in impressive facilities which are also at Olympic Park. The institute is best described in Bhavan Australia’s own words:

In Australia even today there are many underprivileged people from refugee families or otherwise who cannot afford basic computer education and thus remain unemployed or underemployed. In today’s world computer education is a basic necessity for almost any job. There is a need to fill in the gap, to give the underprivileged a chance to be part of the skilled Australian workforce and thus enhance the pool of the skilled workers.

They go on to say:

To address the above issue, Bhavan’s Gandhi Institute of Computer and Information Technology Australia provides a subsidised computer training education program to the poor and underprivileged or anyone who is eager to be educated in basic computer knowledge but cannot afford it.

The Bill Gates Foundation, which actively supports the Gandhi Institute in India through a grant of $US5 million, has extended its support to this project as well. Bhavan Australia is to be commended for its initiative in promoting culture and modern education in Australia. Their motto, ‘As noble thoughts come to them from all sides, they in turn seek to pass on their knowledge to those in need’, is truly an example for us all. I wish Bhavan Australia well. (Time expired)