Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've enjoyed the last couple of months celebrating some momentous occasions with the local Chinese Australian community in my electorate of Chisholm. At the end of last year, we came together to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations between Australia and China, which were, of course, established by Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who had the foresight to see that our relationship with one another would only grow more important over time—and indeed it has.

In January, I was able to celebrate the lunar new year—the Year of the Rabbit for our Chinese Australian community and the Year of the Cat for our Vietnamese community—with so many people in the electorate. It's been really wonderful to be able to get out and about again and celebrate in the way that we used to several years ago, given that over the last couple of years, for public health reasons, we haven't been able to come together. So it was marvellous to be able to see the community roar back to life.

Here are just some of the events I attended. One was the Chinese Seniors Education and Skills Development Association lunar new year celebration in Glen Waverley. We were able to hold lunar new year mobile offices in the glen and in Box Hill. The Wenxin Community Art Academy's Spring Festival art exhibition in Mount Waverley was wonderful, featuring lots of people displaying artwork at an exhibition for the first time. I was especially pleased to be able to attend the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse lunar new year celebration in Box Hill with the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, and the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles. The Chinese Community Society of Victoria dinner was wonderful. The Monash Senior Chinese Volunteer Service Centre Lantern Festival celebration had me try my hand at making dumplings, which was a really lovely experience to share. I attended the Chinese Professionals Club of Australia celebration. Monash City Council held their own Lunar New Year celebration, and I was really pleased to be able to attend before having to catch the plane up to Canberra on Sunday. I also attended the Box Hill Hawks lunar new year dinner, which is a really exciting new event that sees the local football club come together with our wonderful Australian Chinese community and host a celebration. I'm looking forward to attending, when I return to Melbourne, the Chinese lunar new year gala dinner at the Box Hill Town Hall.

As you probably can tell from the description of just some of the events I've recently attended, it has been an incredibly busy time of celebration. It's been a time when the community can come together with family, with friends and with people we may not have seen in these sorts of contexts for a couple of years now. I want to congratulate every single person who put these events on and volunteered so much of their time to make sure that every event that I attended—and, I'm sure, many others that were held in the community—was a great success. I thank the leadership from the Monash and Whitehorse councils and the Victorian state government for supporting many of these initiatives. Ours is a truly diverse, multicultural electorate, and it is always so wonderful to be welcomed into the events and celebrations of communities like the Chinese Australian community and to learn more about how different cultures come to Australia and make all of our lives so much richer. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Year of the Rabbit—or Year of the Cat, if that's what you celebrate—and that it is full of health, wealth, prosperity and good fortune.

I've picked up a few new Mandarin phrases. I am learning, Speaker, so please be kind when listening to my pronunciation. Chun jie kuai le—happy new year—to my local Chinese Australian community and, indeed, to all of the Chinese Australians who have just celebrated the lunar new year. Thank you very much for always making me feel so welcome in your community events. I'll continue to support your work in the community, and I look forward to seeing you all again when I get back to Melbourne. Xiexie—thank you—Speaker.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Great work by the member for Chisholm.