Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier this year, I was pleased to announce funding to 12 great local organisations under the Building Multicultural Communities Program. The funding was given to improve facilities and to help them build stronger communities. The grants were awarded under proper procedures and were fully funded in the 2013-14 budget. Successful applicants were notified and there were many happy people in my electorate when those grants were announced. Unfortunately, community organisations around Australia are now being told by departmental officials that their funding is in limbo. This is despite the fact that Minister Scott Morrison tabled the approved grants in parliament earlier this month. I call on the Minister for Social Services, Kevin Andrews, to honour these funding commitments, properly processed in the budget and announced in the proper way, and give these communities the certainty that they deserve.

The community organisations in my electorate who represent some of our most diverse communities do extraordinary work, building their communities and their facilities. I have been to Hindu services on vacant lots in the mud and the rain, because they have managed to buy a piece of land and they are holding their first service out in the open as an indication of great things to come. I have seen the BAPS community in Eleanor Street, Rosehill, buy an old pie shop and over a 10-year period turn it into something that is visually very beautiful, that houses a community of several thousand people. I have seen the Murugan Temple develop beside the M4. Again, it was originally a block of land right alongside a freeway of not much value to anyone else and they have turned it into an extraordinary facility for their community. The Turkish community have been in Australia for just over 40 years and they well and truly own Turkish House in Auburn. These are extraordinary achievements by communities.

Three of the communities that were granted larger amounts of funding under this program are doing significant work on improving facilities which they already own. That Hindu Society of New South Wales bought an old church and house in Old Toongabbie—it is known as the Shakti Temple. They received $75,600 to renovate a small brick church at the front of the property to be used for training. They have done a remarkable job of turning what was a very rundown group of buildings—an old church, a hall and a house out the back—into a usable space. There is much more work to be done, but it is an extraordinary achievement by a community which has not been in Australia for all that long.

There is the Hope Mission Centre. I went to the opening of their first premises about five or six years ago. I went to the opening of another one a few months ago. They have bought something that looks like a warehouse on Church Street in North Parramatta and have already turned it into a place which houses a strong and growing community which does great work for their community. The Global Organisation for Divinity have purchased a rather rundown property in Winston Hills and have received funding under this program to build a car park, disability access and toilet facilities. These are incredibly important projects to these communities and their loss will be quite devastating to people who have worked incredibly hard.

I call on the minister to confirm funding to ACCA Aged Care for the purchase of computers and a printer; for the Anglican Church Property Trust Diocese of Sydney for a fridge, projector and a sound system; to Community Migrant Resource Centre for laptops and a data projector for their Australia Asian Cultural Association; the Ethiopian Community Association in New South Wales for printers and software; Granville Multicultural Community Centre for additional outdoor space; the Hindu Society of New South Wales to renovate and restore their temple; the Hope Mission Centre Incorporated for their data projectors and chairs; the Information and Cultural Exchange for 15 iPad minis and accessories; the Maltese Community Council of New South Wales for office equipment; the Relief Hope Agency Nation Development Service for a photocopier and other office equipment; Sikh Youth Australia for a portable projector, a wireless microphone set and other equipment; and the Global Organisation for Divinity for car park, disability access, toilet facilities and a kids' play area.