Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Saturday night the member for Whitlam, the state member for Wollongong and I had the absolute pleasure of attending the Vietnamese Community in Wollongong's Lunar New Year celebrations, welcoming in the Year of the Cat. I have attended this event many times in past years, but this was the first time in my capacity as the member for Cunningham.

Lunar New Year, also known as Tet, is always a colourful, loud, entertaining and fun event, with so many different performances. There was an abundance of dancing, from traditional Vietnamese dancing through to hip-hop, and a fashion parade with models ranging from toddlers through to a model in her 90s. Ken Habak, the chair of the Multicultural Communities Council of the Illawarra, gave an entertaining speech about the attributes of the cat and what that might mean for the year ahead.

The Vietnamese community also conducted a special minute's silence to commemorate veterans who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. The way that this community speaks about their love and admiration for the Australian soldiers who came to help them is just beautiful. Our local Vietnam veterans were represented on the night by Ian Birch and Pam Bowmaker from the Illawarra Vietnam Veterans Association. The Vietnamese community are also the first to put up their hands to help others in need. They have recently fundraised for flood victims across the country and for the humanitarian effort in Ukraine.

Congratulations to Teresa Tran, president of the Vietnamese Community in Wollongong, and to the entire executive committee on another successful celebration. And thank you for all the hard work you do in our community.