Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If it wasn't curried sausages it was an Indian curry or perhaps a Tongan curry. They were all out at the inaugural Kurri Kurri curry festival on the weekend. I am a true Kurri girl—that's k-u-r-r-i-k-u-r-r-i. It's such a great town, they named it twice! Quite a few years ago now we were kicking around the idea of having a curry festival. I want to congratulate Councillor Rosa Grine and Cessnock City Council on making the Kurri Kurri curry festival a reality.

At first, people were a little bit nervous about how many might show up. Well, over 3½ thousand people turned up over the weekend to learn how to make curry and to have a great experience with their family. They also coined the arts festival, along with the curry festival, but I know that the curry was the main game. Chef Gavin came along to teach people how to make a curry. There were belly dancers and fire twirlers. There was someone who carved a swift parrot and a regent honeyeater out of wood with a chainsaw, and I guarantee it was slower than the real thing.

Let me say a great big thanks to our community, who turned out to the newly refurbished Col Brown Rotary Park in Kurri Kurri for the curry festival. It's a little sample of how great curry is, no matter whether you like it hot and spicy or whether you like it mild.