Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to share with the House today an event that occurred in my electorate recently. On 17 July, I joined the Muslim community from the Werribee Islamic Centre and the Virgin Mary Mosque to celebrate Eid. It was a fabulous occasion. There were over 2,000 people gathered who originated from dozens of countries from around the world. After prayers, I joined families to break their fast and begin their gift giving. It was a very exciting morning, with children dressed in their best clothes, lots of national dress, lots of gift giving and lots of smiling children. I would like thank the Werribee Islamic Centre for the invitation to join them and for opening their celebrations to both me and members of Wyndham council.

It is a pleasure to serve in a multicultural, multifaith community like Wyndham, with open doors and open hearts. They celebrated this year at the Encore centre and I would like to congratulate Wyndham council for opening our brand new centre as the mosque would not have held the 2,000 people who gathered this year. Congratulations to Wyndham council for their support for our multifaith, multicultural community. It is a pleasure to represent the people of Lalor.