Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's with great pleasure that Minister Alan Tudge and I visited the Buddhist Vihara in Berwick, otherwise known as the Sri Lankan temple, where we made a $500,000 grant announcement for the Multicultural Education Resource Centre. First of all, can I say it was absolutely amazing to be greeted by all the young girls dancing and being so proud of Sri Lankan culture. This is what this grant is really about—a multicultural education resource centre where people can learn and continue learning Sinhala, their language, and something that is very important to the Sri Lankan people.

This temple is a great focus and is of great importance to the Sri Lankan community, and something I was very proud to get involved with six months ago when I visited. They told me of the great need, especially on Sunday mornings, where they teach Sinhala to the young people but also the use of the centre for seniors during the week. It was a very exciting day, and this was only delivered because of our strong economy and managing the budget. (Time expired)