Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to wish the Islamic community in Parramatta, and communities around, Eid Mubarak. Yesterday's sunset marked the beginning of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan. For Muslims, Ramadan is the month in which the Koran was presented to the Prophet Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. From the first sighting of the crescent moon on 12 April until its return last night, Muslims around the world have been fasting from sunrise until sunset. It's a time of charity, being the best you, spending time with family and showing compassion and communal spirit.

This year, it has been a joy to join the community in celebrations. Last year, of course, nearly all were cancelled, so it was a very quiet Ramadan, but this year I was able to attend iftars, including those hosted by the Sydney South Shapla Shaluk Lions Club and MUSIAD Sydney. I'm really sorry for those to whose celebrations I couldn't make it. Sadly, COVID restrictions in New South Wales were tightened last week, so one of Australia's largest Eid celebrations, the Chand Raat festival at Rosehill, was cancelled for the second year running. I love that festival, so I'm really looking forward to it next year. I also mention the Parramatta Mosque, which had its Eid this morning at Parramatta Park. I have been going for years. Of course, as parliament was sitting, I couldn't make it this morning. Neil El-Kadomi phoned me yesterday to remind me, and I had to tell him that I couldn't make it. I know it would have been a great morning. I wish I had been there. To all of the people of Islamic faith from around the world—from Sri Lanka, from Somalia, from Indonesia, from the Middle East and from just about everywhere—who have made Australia their home, to the descendants of the cameleers who were practising Muslims in the 1880s, and to the descendants of the Muslim traders to the north: Eid Mubarak.

I want to wish Parramatta's South and South-East Asian communities a very belated happy new year. Festivals were held from 13 to 15 April, when parliament wasn't sitting, to mark the beginning of the new year in the Hindu solar calendar, including the Puthandu, which is the Tamil new year; Vishu, which is the Malayalam new year; Vaisakhi, which is the Punjabi new year, the harvest celebration celebrated by the Sikh communities; Pahela Baishakh, the Bengali new year; Bihu, the Assamese new year; Songkran, the Thai new year; and Choul Chnam Thmey, the Cambodian new year.

Traditions for marking the day are diverse and varied, but, for all who celebrate, it's an auspicious day that brings families together to look forward with hope to the year ahead. I quite often find that in Parramatta we celebrate new year every day; someone is celebrating. It's an amazing thing. The old year was characterised by coronavirus and its consequences, and the new year has been troubled by the Morrison government's unprecedented decision to ban Australians from returning to India. But I join the community in looking ahead with hope for the rest of this new year.

Twenty-one years ago, Melissa Monteiro and her young family moved to Australia from India. Soon after, Melissa, an experienced social worker, started working at the Parramatta Community Migrant Resource Centre. At the time, the CMRC was a small organisation with just seven employees. Today, with Melissa as CEO, the CMRC has 150 staff and contractors who speak a total of 47 languages, providing specialist support to newly arrived migrants, refugees and humanitarian entrants. CMRC has grown, but it's still a grassroots organisation focused on community capacity building, helping people and communities to identify and address their own issues. They've helped thousands of refugees and migrants build lives in the community, and this focus on the person and the community, the grassroots, is the key to their success.

I've been so proud to witness this journey, and now everyone can, because Melissa Monteiro, at long last, has written a book about it. The Girl From Mumbai tells Melissa's story from her childhood in Mumbai, where she was inspired to become a social worker, to Parramatta, where she spent more than two decades building the CMRC. It's an amazing story, and all proceeds from the book go back to the CMRC so it can continue its wonderful work. That's one more reason to pick up a copy. I congratulate Melissa and the team at the CMRC. Thank you for all the work you do and have done for our community. I know it will go on for many years. Melissa, you aren't just the girl from Mumbai; you are The Girl From Mumbai. Congratulations.