Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the Bundoora Italian senior citizens group on their recent 30-year anniversary. It was an honour to join the senior citizens along with my colleagues the member for Scullin and the Victorian state member for Mill Park, Lily D'Ambrosio, and Banyule councillor Rick Garotti to celebrate this wonderful milestone. It is 30 years of voluntary, unpaid service to Italian seniors and pensioners across Melbourne's north.

Every Thursday this wonderful group put on nothing short of a wedding sized event for their members: three courses of food, great coffee and animated music performances and dancing. They organise an active social calendar to ensure members are kept busy. It's so important that elderly Italians are able to maintain a connection to their culture, to their language and to each other. They also make sure that their local elected representatives visit them very frequently, and I was very pleased to join them. I say 'mille grazie' to the committee and to two wonderful women in particular, Maria Biondo and Antonietta Filippi, who've been wonderful supporters of mine and of the member for Scullin. Both Maria and Antonietta have been recipients of Australia Day awards in the past for their service.

This community group do a wonderful job, supporting and continuing their Italian culture locally. Maintaining this culture is vital, and it makes us a stronger community as a whole. There is an extraordinary and positive contribution made by migrants to both our economy and our society. They make our communities stronger, and it is our responsibility, as the drivers of policy, to ensure the capacity of migrants is fully realised. That's why celebrating people like Maria and Antonietta, who bring our communities together, is so vital. We must be reminded of the strengths of different cultures and how they are positively shaping and changing our communities.

I recently met with the Heidelberg Historical Society, a local community group with a dedicated passion for understanding and preserving the history of Heidelberg and our wider community. They are building a place for objects, documents and artefacts that explain our history. Some members of this group have dedicated their entire working lives to local history, and others have a keen interest and have picked up skills along the way. Their collection includes maps, brochures, community group minutes and members lists.

Their current exhibition features a historical quilt from the mid-1890s, which they've used to unpick the story of many local families and businesses from that time. I commend president Jenn Burgess and the executive, who have worked tirelessly to create a fun, educational and welcoming environment. The wonderful collections at the museum currently don't have museum standard preservation, with no climate control and limited storage. I know that in the coming years I will be looking to support them to ensure they can take the best care of this collection and support them with applications for grants when the time is right. I look forward to working closely with this group into the future.