David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank and congratulate the Non-Resident Nepali Association for their sixth annual Grand Nepal Festival, held very successfully on Saturday at Darling Harbour in Sydney. The NRNA are a group which represents the community of Nepali citizens all around the world. They are nationals living outside of their nation. The Grand Nepal Festival is a fantastic event held every second year at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour. On Saturday it was good to meet Nepal's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, who was the chief guest at the festival. It was good to discuss issues of mutual concern between Australia and Nepal with him.

We have a very strong and vibrant Nepalese community in my electorate of Banks and, indeed, right around Australia, with more than 40,000 Australians tracing their heritage back to Nepal. I would like to congratulate the entire community for this traffic event held on Saturday, including the acting president of the association, Mr Dinesh Pokharel. I thank him for his hospitality. I look forward to continuing to work further into the future with the Non-Resident Nepali Association.