Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday, 2 September, I attended the 22nd Ganeshotsav Festival at the Whitlam Leisure Centre in Liverpool. This is an event to celebrate Lord Ganesh, the Hindu god of learning and of wisdom. I was invited to attend by my friend and colleague Dr Rajeev Jairam, a child psychiatrist with whom I've worked closely for many years. I was there with my Labor colleagues, and friends, Anne Stanley MP, the member for Werriwa; Anoulack Chanthivong, the state MP for Macquarie Fields; and Paul Lynch, the MP for Liverpool and shadow Attorney-General in the New South Wales parliament. Liverpool councillors Nathan Hagarty and Geoff Shelton also attended, as did the wonderful Charishma Kaliyanda, a Liverpool councillor, occupational therapist and prominent member of the local Hindu community.

I had a great time. It was wonderful to see so many talented and beautiful young people. In south-west Sydney, we are blessed to have such a strong subcontinental community. They are an asset to us and value education, family and community. I am very grateful for their support, as are my colleagues. We discussed many issues pertinent to the community, such as developing a community centre in the local area and the possibility of developing a school for the Hindu community.

The subcontinental community is a very diverse one and is spread throughout Australia, numbering almost half a million. At present, we only have one member of federal parliament of subcontinental origin, Senator Lisa Singh, who, all would agree, is a great asset to this parliament. It would be great to encourage more parliamentarians from the Subcontinent. Charishma Kaliyanda is the Labor candidate for Holsworthy in the state parliament, and we could not have a smarter or more hardworking person to represent us.

I was honoured to be present at the festival and humbled to see so many kids with great talents, so many patients of mine, so many beautiful young children and so many parents relishing the talents of their children. We are truly blessed to live in such a vibrant, multicultural society where we can celebrate our origins and rejoice in our great good fortune to be Australians together. I was grateful to be invited. I had a wonderful time. I found it very uplifting and I'm grateful for the fact that we can have such a diverse group of people from the Subcontinent providing talents and skills to our great Australian community.