Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are a migrant nation, with more than half of this country being first- or second-generation migrants, and there's a particular relationship with Italian migrants. I know that, in this parliament, the members for Casey and Barker have proud Italian heritage and that the member for Sturt has one of the largest Italian populations in the country. I also have one of the largest in the electorate of Menzies; 8.4 per cent, which is double the national average, are from an Italian heritage.

Recently I had the pleasure of attending the 50th anniversary of the Trevisani nel Mondo gala dinner at the Veneto Club in Melbourne. Treviso is a city in the Veneto region in northern Italy, and the club was formed as a home away from home. That meant so much to people who probably, when they came here, knew that they wouldn't be seeing their relatives again. So to have that place that they could go to was so special. I thank, in particular: the president, Giorgio Paccagnan; Mario Magaton, the vice president; the secretary; the assistant secretary; and the treasurer. All of these things don't happen without a really strong committee. We were also joined by Franco Conte, Tiziano Piovesan and Senator Giacobbe from the Italian Senate. The consul-general was also there, and it was a fantastic event. It was my pleasure to be there with them.

We also saw recently the celebration of Diwali. Melbourne in particular has a vibrant Indian diaspora. Again, my electorate has that too, and I'm very proud of it. We celebrated Diwali, the festival of light. It's a festival that sees light recognised over darkness, love over hate, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. I think we can all agree that those are principles and values that we need now more than ever.

I want to particularly thank Gurpreet Miglani from the Australian Indian Cultural Society Inc. This is a new society that he set up to bring together people in the Manningham district, which overlaps fully with the electorate of Menzies. Again, he couldn't do that without a really significant committee, in particular his vice president, secretary, treasurer and so many others who did an enormous amount of work. Over 300 community members attended their inaugural event, along with vendors, sponsors, performers and volunteers. The Templestowe Football Club also had a stand at the event. I know that Gurpreet Miglani does a lot of work in that club to bring AFL football to the Indian diaspora, and I look forward to the day when we have some players of Indian heritage taking the field at the MCG, playing in the colours of one of the many clubs that we have. Congratulations to Gurpreet and his committee.