Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm delighted to say that, among the many changes happening on the Sunshine Coast today, we are welcoming to our region a growing, vibrant and successful community of people with Indian ancestry. In just five years, between 2011 and 2016, the number of people with Indian ancestry living on the Sunshine Coast doubled, with almost 2,000 individuals recorded in the most recent data.

People with Indian ancestry are making an ever-increasing and ever more visible contribution to my electorate of Fisher. I recently had the pleasure of meeting some of these new Sunshine Coast residents through my church, Our Lady of the Rosary, in Caloundra, where people of Indian ancestry are playing a greater and greater role in our community. Others lit lamps all over the coast or joined together in a satsang in Maroochydore during the recent Diwali celebrations.

This week I met the High Commissioner of India, Mr Gitesh Sarma, and his deputy, Mr Karthigeyan, with the Parliamentary Friends of India, which the member for Berowra helped to organise. I know that the high commissioner is as excited as I am about the growing Indian presence on the Sunshine Coast. I'm looking forward to working with him and getting to know more about this dynamic new community on the Sunshine Coast in the months and years to come.