David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Sunday, 1 March, I was honoured to attend the official opening of the Nan Tien Institute's Wollongong campus, cultural centre and art gallery. It was tremendous to have the Prime Minister at the opening of the campus. Last Sunday was a very hot day, but that did not stop literally thousands of people from coming along for this important occasion.

I would like to recognise the founder of the Nan Tien Temple and Institute, the Venerable Master Hsing Yun, who travelled from Taiwan to attend the opening. Locally, congratulations are due to Professor John Loxton, the acting president and foundation dean of the institute, and a number of the members of the Buddhist community from the St George region BLIA, including Francis Wong and Karen Zhang. The campus is located opposite the Nan Tien Temple in Wollongong, which is the largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere. The new building has teaching facilities, a museum, an art gallery, a cafe and a gift shop. The architecture is quite striking. It is designed to look like a lotus leaf when viewed from a distance—the lotus flower, of course, being an important symbol in the Buddhist religion. Congratulations again to everyone associated with the opening of this important new institute. I wish its members every success in the future.