Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to welcome the City of Swan and businesses from the Swan Valley to Canberra. The Swan Valley is located east of the Perth CBD. The Swan Valley celebrated its 181st anniversary this year and is WA's oldest wine region and one of the oldest in Australia. It is built on a unique history and heritage that blends Indigenous, pioneering colonial and southern European roots.

In recent years the Swan Valley has attracted a strong food element in the form of a chocolate factory, coffee roasters, several beekeepers, a lavender farm, olive groves, a goat farm, cheese farms and dried-fruit producers. The Swan Valley has over 150 locations to wine and dine and a number of pop-up roadside stalls that have fresh fruits for sale.

Tonight, the City of Swan is hosting the Swan Valley and Surrounds Endless Experiences event in the Great Hall, which showcases the fine food, art and award-winning wines that this region produces. There will be representatives from the region who have produced unique art and sculpture displays as well as some entertainment from an Indigenous dance group.

I may be biased, but I consider the wineries and produce that comes from the Swan Valley to be of the highest standard in Australia. I commend the City of Swan, in particular Mayor Charlie Zannino and CEO Mike Foley, for coordinating this event and bringing the people of the Swan Valley together so that the rest of Australia can see why it is Perth's taste of the valley. What they will taste tonight are the nectars and the sweetness of those things that are produced in the Swan Valley.