Page 767 - Week 02 - Thursday, 23 February 2012
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years ago—and, sadly, the fire that they experienced, which left them without a headquarters for many years. I am glad to see them re-established. The Tongan community is a very strong community that really looks after its families and works well to ensure that there is a great deal of commitment to the strengthening of families. The way that they give back, especially through their choirs, their gospel choirs in particular, is a great inspiration.
I want to pay tribute to Sam Wong and his board for the great work that they do in the area of multiculturalism. Sam has spent tireless years and ensures that everyone is aware of the great work that is being done by and the needs of the multicultural community. And his activism over the 12 or 15 years that I have been involved in public life in the ACT, long before I became a member of this place, should be appreciated by the community. And of course he is always supported ably by his wife, Chin.
One of the most important things that we see in the multicultural community to ensure that culture is maintained is the passing on of languages. I want to pay tribute to all of the multicultural language schools across Canberra, some 60-odd multicultural language schools, that provide language in such a diversity of languages, from Japanese to Spanish, from Italian to Mandarin and Cantonese, all the languages in between, and the eastern European languages—the Croatian schools, the Serbian schools, the Polish schools, the Greek schools. All of those help to maintain a sense of culture and help to pass on to the next generation that sense of culture. That is also the case with the folkloric groups, who pass on through dance and music and singing, for the most part, the culture that has gone before us.
The passing on of language is something that I am particularly passionate about, and I was pleased, as I mentioned in the adjournment debate recently, to be involved in the launch of The Bambino Book, along with Mr Doszpot and Dr Bourke. I think that the coming of The Bambino Book is a real testimony, a real microcosm and a stand-out example of how important and how fruitful multiculturalism has been in the ACT.
The story of Rita Martiniello is a very impressive one. Rita came to Australia as a young girl who spoke no English. She eventually came to Canberra, married, took up a trade, became a hairdresser and became a business woman, but that was not enough for her. She went back to school. She went back to school and improved her English, to the point that she is now a book publisher. She was the adult learning student of the year in 2008 and is now a publisher of books to pass on to her children and her grandchildren her Italian language and heritage. I think that that is a great testimony to her. It is not just the great scientists or whoever who come here, but it is the ordinary people who take extraordinary steps to ensure that whilst they participate in the life of this country, they also ensure that there are also great connections to the country to whom they owe their first allegiance.
Going to the launch of The Bambino Book made me think about the diversity of Italian communities that there are in the ACT. The launch was at the Italian cultural centre, which is a great facility built by the Italian community for the Italian community, and through that reaching out into the wider community. There is also the Campagna association, the Alpine association, the Sicilian Association. I noticed
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