Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Kung hei fat choi, which loosely translates to, ‘Congratulations and be prosperous’.

On 6 February this year I attended the official opening of the lunar New Year celebrations conducted by Hurstville council. Unfortunately, I missed the celebrations at Bankstown as they were held at the same time, although I have attended in previous years. Hurstville council held a series of events for the community, including the Hong Kong Film Festival and a photo exhibition. On 18 February I attended the lunar New Year celebrations conducted by Kogarah council.

There are different versions of the story behind the development of the Chinese zodiac, but all the versions are based around a race called by an emperor to determine the animals to be represented. The cunning rat hitched a ride on the back of the ox and crossed the winning line first. The rat was followed in order by the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. According to the Chinese zodiac, you take on the characteristics of the animal associated with the year of your birth, but those characteristics are also influenced by what time of day you were born, what fixed element you belong to—water, metal, wood, fire and earth—as well as the influence of yin and yang.

This year is the Year of the Tiger, the third sign of the Chinese zodiac cycle. People born in the Year of the Tiger are said to be courageous, daring, confident and natural leaders. However, they can be unpredictable and tempestuous, and sometimes territorial and possessive. 2010 is the year of the metal tiger, with metal bringing additional strength and determination.

Lunar New Year is regarded as the most important of all Chinese holidays. Chinese New Year starts with the new moon on the first day of the New Year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. In China it is also called the spring festival, as the lunar New Year falls when winter is ending and spring is beginning. What originally began as a Chinese festival has now expanded to include the broader Australian community. Almost everyone celebrates lunar New Year in their own way. Chinese New Year ends with the lantern festival, where people hang decorated lanterns in temples and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of the full moon.

These celebrations are important to many of my constituents. Based on the 2006 census, currently in the seat of Banks there are 10,741 people with at least one parent born in China, 5,819 people with at least one parent born in Vietnam and 368 people who were born in the Republic of Korea. In the redistributed seat of Banks, which will be the seat for the next election, there will be 25,482 people with a parent born in China. As you can see, that is just short of an extra 15,000 people with a link to China. There will be 1,797 with a parent born in Vietnam and 533 people born in the Republic of Korea. Almost 19 per cent of people in the new electorate of Banks speak a Chinese language, Vietnamese or Korean at home.

For the record, I was born in 1954, which was the Year of the Horse. I am looking forward to representing the additional constituents who will come into the electorate of Banks—some 40,000 in all—and 50,000 from the old electorate in terms of voting numbers. The seat will have about 144,000.

Already I have been working through the new council—Kogarah council—and the larger area of Hurstville council, and I have found it very different to the electorate I currently represent, which is more Bankstown based. So, I am looking forward with excitement to the experiences that I will have with the new constituents from a vastly different area to the current constituents that I represent. It shows me that migration has been good to this country, diversity has been good to this country and multiculturalism has been good to this country. We are a richer country and we are a better country for it.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 8.00 pm, the debate is interrupted.