Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, I had the absolute pleasure of attending the official launch of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair with my beautiful wife, Yolonde. The Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, or CIAF, as it's known, is Australia's premier Indigenous art fair. It celebrates the vibrancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. This year, the theme of CIAF is 'Sacred', and the artists are encouraged to discuss their sacred places, their connections to them and the significance of them, as well as the threats to their conservation. It is very exciting to be able to return to holding physical events, and, returning this year, CIAF will be held in a new home—the recently refurbished Cairns Convention Centre. CIAF injects about $8.3 million annually into the economy of my electorate and really drives home domestic visitation to tropical North Queensland. Those visiting and attending will enjoy high-end fine art, affordable art, fashion, comedy acts, music, concerts, theatre production, industry talks and symposiums and much more.

The year 2020 was hard for everybody in the events, entertainment and tourism industry, so I'd like to take the opportunity to congratulate the team at CIAF, led by the chair Tom Mosby, artistic director Janina Harding, general manager Darrell Harris and the hugely talented Jack Wilkie-Jans, for their tremendous work in forging ahead with the cultural and economic opportunities for Indigenous creatives. I have no doubt at all that this year's CIAF will be the best ever. (Time expired)