Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The electorate of Chifley, I am very grateful to say, sits within Dharug land, and we acknowledge their custodianship and pay respect to elders past and present within those lands. I'm also very proud of the fact that Chifley is home to the largest urban-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in the country.

During July, our community hosted a range of NAIDOC Week events, celebrating and respecting the rich history, culture and achievements of our First Nations people. It was terrific, too, that we were able to attend events like the one held by the Baabayn Aboriginal Corporation in Holy Family Church in Emerton, where we hosted, for his first official visit to Chifley, Labor leader Anthony Albanese. I am grateful for his attendance on that day, as we all were. It was heartening to see so many young Aboriginal people embracing their culture and providing us with an insight into First Nations history through dance. It was a personal highlight for me, and I want to acknowledge those students from Chifley College Shalvey Campus and Lethbridge Park Public School who performed on the day. Across Chifley, it's incredibly important that young Aboriginal people perform these dances. I want to celebrate, congratulate and encourage every single young Aboriginal performer across our electorate for keeping their culture and history alive and being the generational bridge to ensure that this culture continues to be celebrated.