Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Over the next month or so the Parramatta community comes alive with various festivals from the Subcontinent community, the Durga Puja and the Deepavali in particular. The Durga Puja, through the goddess Durga, celebrates the triumph of good over evil and the Deepavali celebrates the victory of righteous over injustice, truth over untruth, and light over darkness. There are many festivals that will come alive in the next month or so. I want to acknowledge just some of them.

The Federation of Indian Associations of New South Wales will be celebrating Deepavali in the Holroyd Gardens in Merrylands on Sunday, 28 October. I've been to the Federation of Indian Associations' events before, and they're always worth going to. I would like to thank Dr Yadu Singh for the invitation this year once again. The Council of Indian Australians will be holding theirs in Wigram Street, Harris Park, on Saturday, 27 October. We locals refer to Wigram Street as Little India. It's a wonderful place to celebrate all things Subcontinental, and it will be a great event on Saturday, 27 October. I'd like to thank Mohit Kumar for the invitation to that one. The Hindu Council of Australia will be celebrating in Parramatta Park on Sunday, 4 November. Again, it will be a great event and really worth going to. I'd like to thank Prakash Mehta, the national president of the Hindu Council.

If you're into Indian food, it's really worth coming along to all of these events to celebrate and to eat the best that we have to offer. The Vakta Mandir Trust will be holding its Durga Puja on 20 October at Northmead high school. It will be a wonderful little event on 20 October. The Australian Bengali Hindu Association have already held their Durga Puja. It was last weekend on 12 October. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend—I missed that one. But, again, it was a great celebration. I've attended many Durga Pujas over time. Thank you, Apu Saha, for the invitation to that. The South Asian Australian Association and Hindi school will be holding theirs on Saturday, 10 November at Parramatta West Public School. The fete will start around 4.00 pm, and cultural events will go right through into the evening.

These events, which are celebrated all around the world, which are now very much a part of our community in Parramatta, are always special. This one is known as the Festival of Lights, or Deepavali. It's always special. The community comes out in force in their wonderful saris and their traditional clothing with their traditional foods, and it's well worth everybody coming along to enjoy them. They're part of who we are now. I'm really looking forward to celebrating with my community.

See this speech in context