Page 4236 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 21 September 2010
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heartbeat of this great college and the whole college community that the spirit and example of Mary MacKillop lives on. This great Australian and her dedication to the homeless, the new immigrants, the lonely and the unwanted, her legacy through the Brown Joeys is still delivering today, her message of reverence for and recognition of human dignity, and this recognition of her life and example in Rome in a few weeks time will hopefully keep inspiring all of us, not only within Australia and Canberra and in our Tuggeranong and Canberra communities but worldwide.
I offer my sincere congratulations to Mr Michael Lee, the principal of MacKillop Catholic college and Ms Sandra Darley, the acting principal in Mr Lee’s absence, as well as the school executive, Mrs Michelle Marks, Mr Paul O’Callaghan, Mrs Lois White and all the staff at the college for a very well organised and inspirational event last Friday.
Also, in my capacity as shadow minister of multicultural affairs, I was privileged to receive an invitation from the acting chair of the Canberra multicultural forum, Mrs Diana Abdul-Rahman, to attend on Sunday the celebration of Canberra’s inaugural Eid-ul-Fitr festival. The Eid-ul-Fitr is a festival celebrated in Muslim communities around the world to mark the end of the month of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. Chief Police Officer for the ACT, Roman Quaedvlieg, is to be commended for the initiative in the sponsoring of this event by the Australian Federal Police.
In his speech at the opening of the festival, he commented that the festival, which is celebrated by Muslim communities around the world, is also an opportunity to bring together people of many faiths here in Canberra, and this inaugural event was certainly very successful in bringing this to fruition, with over 3,000 Canberrans from all walks of life joining with the Muslim community to celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Sunday.
I would like to thank Mrs Diana Abdul-Rahman, Mr Ahmed Youssef and other leaders within the Muslim community for their hospitality and for their great work with the Australian Federal Police to make this inaugural event such a success.
International affairs—Pakistan
MS BURCH: (Brindabella-Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Women) (4.32): I rise to speak about the recent catastrophe in Pakistan. I would like to offer my condolence to the local communities which have lost family and friends in this tragedy. As the ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs, I come into regular contact with leaders of the Pakistani community. The Pakistani community in Canberra is a close-knit one, and one that participates in all aspects of Canberra life.
We are all aware of the terrible floods that continue to affect Pakistan. Unprecedented heavy monsoonal rains began on 26 July, which is almost two months ago, and the flooding continues to overwhelm the region. At least 160,000 square kilometres of land now lie under water. More than 2,000 people have lost their lives, with that
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