Page 758 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 March 2021
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For the Vietnamese, this year represents the Year of the Buffalo, the second animal in the 12 Vietnamese zodiac animals. As an example of the temple’s charitable works, last year the temple raised $100,000 to assist flood victims in Vietnam. When I spoke, I had a strong message for the children present: that they are our future and will play a truly important role in the community’s future. Afterwards my colleagues and I handed out new year gifts to the children. That was a great joy.
Recently the centre has been undertaking construction work to expand its facilities to meet growing demand. Part of the building work has required the temple to sponsor Vietnamese Buddhist artisans to craft traditional Buddhist designs, carvings and sculptures that are central to the Buddhist faith. Unfortunately, they were only allowed to come to Australia for a short period and were unable to finish the building project. It has since been a struggle for the community to find the appropriate body to complete the remaining works. The Buddhist temple will appreciate our support for the continuation and completion of their new facilities. I certainly will be lending my support to help bring the skilled workers from overseas once it is safe to do so. I hope others in this place will also lend their support to this Buddhist centre and our local community.
On 20 February I had the honour of attending the Indian Association of Canberra event for their 75th anniversary, at the Weston Creek community hub. I would like to thank the president of the association, Sandi Mitra, for organising the event and speaking about the significance of Australia Day as a double celebration for Indian Australians, as it is also Indian Independence Day, celebrating their motherland of India and their current land of Australia. This association was established in 1973, with its main purpose being to promote understanding between the members and the local community, as well as assisting families to settle in the ACT and to develop contacts.
I also wish to thank my colleagues here in the chamber who were in attendance: Nicole Lawder, Elizabeth Lee, Mark Parton, Peter Cain, as well as Ms Cheyne—
Ms Cheyne: And Mr Steel.
MRS JONES: And Mr Steel; thank you, Ms Cheyne. I thank Nishi Puri, Amardeep Singh, Dr Krishna Nadimpalli, Ratesh Gumbar and Jacob Vaddekadathu, and our former colleague in the Assembly Mr Deepak-Raj Gupta. I also wish to thank Gladys Liu, the federal member for the electorate of Chisholm, who gave a speech on the importance of building strong relationships with the Australian Indian community.
We watched a variety of dance performances, including a traditional dance by Krishna Shukla; a Bollywood dance by a young boy called Ahan; modern pop by the Wonder Kids group; and Taj Sidhu, who encouraged everyone to get up and dance to his amazing acapella music. I had the privilege of singing I am Australian, by the Seekers. All leaders then gathered around the stage for group photos while singing the Indian and Australian national anthems. I would like to thank the Indian Association of Canberra for a culturally rich event, and delicious biryani, for those who waited for it. I wish them every success in 2021.
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