Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very privileged today to congratulate a very special constituent of mine from Keilor Downs, Mr Bharpur Singh, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday. I had the honour of meeting Bharpur the other day, when he came into my office just to say hello. Bharpur was born in India in 1915 and married the love of his life, his wife, Gian Kaur, in 1934. Together they have six children, four boys and two girls, all of whom are, I am told, professionals with postgraduate university degrees. Three of the children are citizens and permanent residents of Australia. They have 16 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. Bharpur Singh is multilingual and he can fluently read, write and speak English, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and Persian.

In July 1985 Bharpur migrated to Australia with his wife, Gian. He was 70 years of age. On his arrival Bharpur wasted no time in dedicating himself to his local community and helping others, irrespective of race, culture or origin. In fact, he has thrived in Australia's multicultural community and is very happy to have made the decision to come here. Mr Singh was also involved in establishing a number of senior citizens clubs and associations, and he served on the foundation committee of the Sikh gurdwara in Craigieburn in my electorate of Calwell.

He is very technologically savvy. When I asked him what the secret to life and longevity was, he said to me that he actually has no secret. He simply believes in peace of mind, living, obeying the law and just basically being very happy. Congratulations, Mr Singh.