Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My electorate is home to large Chinese and Vietnamese communities, who have made a massive contribution to Melbourne. Many members of the community are this week celebrating the Moon Festival, what in the Northern Hemisphere is the Mid-Autumn Festival. To all people celebrating this important festival, I extend my warmest wishes.

I would like to inform the parliament about one particular celebration in my electorate. Abbotsford Primary School last week held its annual Chinese Moon Festival, an important event for families and friends of the school. Students displayed art work, performed dances and held a lantern parade around the school grounds. All year levels participated and the event was MCed by the students themselves in three different languages. Greens councillor Amanda Stone and candidate Matoc Achol attended the celebration. They told me how much fun the event was and how impressed they were by the school community.

As I stand here to congratulate the Abbotsford Primary School community on this wonderful celebration, I would like to take the opportunity to inform the federal parliament about the success of the bilingual school programs at Abbotsford Primary School and Richmond West Primary School, which is also in my electorate. Students at these schools take part in fully immersive bilingual education with classes in English, Mandarin and, at Richmond West, Vietnamese. These are innovative programs that are leading the way for language education.

I am delighted to see students in my electorate learning and developing the language skills that strengthen both our local community and equip young people for success in the future. I would like to acknowledge the work of principals Latham Burns and Paul Ledwidge in making this success possible. These schools are a great example of how diversity makes our community a better place for everyone.