Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand before you to speak about an organisation that has a rich and profound history, an organisation that has been the cornerstone of the Chinese community in Western Australia for over a century. I speak of the Chung Wah Association founded in 1909. It is one of the oldest ethnic associations in the state.

The Chung Wah Association was formed to support the social welfare of its members, promote Chinese culture and foster goodwill between its members and the local community. It serves as a connection and bridge between the Chinese community, businesses and other organisations, with Chung Wah's members being very active in professional and cultural networks, promoting Western Australia throughout Asia and the world.

I worked with the Chung Wah Association for many years as a police officer and for many years they have run amazing community programs, such as the Chinese New Year Fair in Northbridge. This year over 20,000 people attended and celebrated the Chinese New Year Fair, welcoming the year of the rabbit.

The Chung Wah Chinese School has five campuses with more than 1,000 students. Two of the five campuses are in Tangney.

I wish to place on record my appreciation for the President of the Chung Wah Association, Dr Ting Chen; its Vice President Mr Yudy Kodratjaya, he's Indonesian; and the entire committees. I thank you for all your leadership and commitment in ensuring that these activities and events continue to engage the multicultural communities and beyond. Chung Wah Association also provides government funded aged care and community care support, serving nearly 900 seniors from Asian and Spanish backgrounds.

Almost all of the city of Melville is contained within my electorate of Tangney. The Mayor of the City of Melville is George Gear, a former member for Tangney in this House. I applaud Mr Gear's continuous service to our community and his ongoing support and advice to me. At one of the citizenship ceremonies Mr Gear spoke of the 160 nationalities that reside in the city of Melville. Therefore, the electorate of Tangney is a very multicultural community, which I'm proud to represent. In Tangney about 16.5 per cent of the residents have Chinese ancestry.

With the pandemic and global events of the last few years Chinese Australians have been through a lot. The former government did not do enough to support multicultural communities, especially the Chinese Australian community. The previous Prime Minister refused to take a photograph with the Chinese Australian leaders when he visited Perth on 15 March 2022. It is so pleasing to see our Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs working hard to stabilise Australia's relationship with our neighbours, including Asia, China and the Pacific region.

I note that our Minister for Trade and Tourism recently had a productive meeting with China's Minister of Commerce. I'm confident that Minister Farrell's work in the trade portfolio will continue to bring prosperity to Australia. I am confident that under the Albanese Labor government this will continue to improve.

One of my priorities when I was elected was to set up an advisory group known as the Tangney Multicultural Advisory Group. This advisory group has many passionate and engaged community leaders, sharing ideas and working together. I'm hoping that my work in this place, informed by those multicultural communities, will contribute to our government's work on delivering a better future for all Australians.