Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Territorians turned out in force on the weekend for the Darwin Chinese New Year Festival. Well done to the Chung Wah Society, especially the lion dance troupe, who were incredible—they get better every year—and the Jade Dragons. There was of course amazing Chinese food, including the return of the famous Chung Wah sartees and food demonstrations by local chefs. Well done to them.

And well done to the Sri Lankan community. The Sri Lankan Australia Friendship Association put on a marvellous event for their independence day celebrations on Saturday night. There were incredible food and performances. Well done to them.

We're the capital of the north—as you're well aware, Deputy Speaker Vasta!—and the gateway to Asia. Air connectivity is essential, a key to our future, particularly to grow those people-to-people links. There has been some great news in recent times in that there'll be a Jetstar Asia flight connecting Darwin and Colombo in Sri Lanka. It's fantastic news. Let's make it work, Australia! Come up to Darwin. We have waterfalls, crocodiles, cold beer, national parks. It's an amazing place. Then you can duck over to another amazing place in Sri Lanka. In Darwin, the place that I'm so fortunate to represent, we have an amazing multicultural heritage, and we're all very proud of that.