Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I extend my warm wishes for the new year to the many Australian Chinese communities—the Year of the Ox. Happy new year! Australia is blessed to have a large number of diverse Chinese Australians who have come here from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and other places, as part of the Chinese diaspora throughout the world. Their contribution has made Australia immeasurably richer. They, of course, were here in the early part of Australia's history as a colony during the gold rushes, but, more recently, in the last two to three decades, they have migrated in large numbers and chosen to make their homes in places like my own city of Sydney, also in Melbourne and, indeed, throughout Australia. Everywhere they have settled, they have made a contribution. Be it enriching the cultural life or enriching community life with the value that they place on education, family values and upholding the stability and security of Australia, they've made a tremendous contribution.

I know that this has not been an easy year in relations between Australia and the People's Republic of China for a number of reasons. Of course, Australia is committed to working through those and ensuring we have a productive and constructive relationship with mainland China, but it's always important to make sure that those disputes are kept in the diplomatic sphere, and we recognise that our differences with another country should not reflect our attitudes towards people of that ethnicity living in Australia.

Once again, I extend my warm wishes to the Chinese Australian community in the Year of the Ox.