Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On this Saturday, 14 November, Wyndham Deepavali will occur at Presidents Park in Werribee. It is being sponsored by Wyndham City Council and the state government, with many more generous sponsors.

The themes for Deepavali this year in Wyndham, as shown on their social media campaign to advertise this great event, are 'Many Faiths, One Festival' and 'Many Cultures, One Nation.' In light of one of the great challenges that our nation faces, the south Asian community in my electorate are intent on making Deepavali bigger and better than last year. They have adopted a former media campaign by posting on their Facebook page a statement, 'This Deepavali, I say no to family violence.'

I applaud the members of my community who are making that connection—who are thinking about Deepavali and thinking about bringing light into the darkness and bringing knowledge over ignorance, and ensuring that this wonderful festival, that brings together people from all over the city and the west of Melbourne to celebrate Deepavali, is going to bring wisdom to the community about family violence.