David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday, 13 February, I attended the Lunar New Year celebrations at the headquarters of VCA, the Vietnamese Community in Australia, New South Wales, in Bonnyrigg, not far from your own electorate, Deputy Speaker Freelander. It was a great celebration of Lunar New Year. VCA does tremendous work in the local community, working with Australians of Vietnamese background on so many different issues. I want to acknowledge the president, Paul Nguyen, the vice-president, Kate Hoang, and all of the other members of the executive. VCA is very effective in standing up for the interests of the local Vietnamese community in New South Wales. They are passionate advocates for the community and they so often articulate the concerns of that community. I would also like to congratulate all the HSC students we saw at the event on Saturday, who had all received a university entrance rank of 99 or above. They were all acknowledged by the community on Saturday. It was a long list of people, so it was an incredibly impressive achievement.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 10:29 to 10:39

On 8 February I attended a meeting of the East Hills VIEW Club at Revesby Workers' Club in Sydney. The club was formed back in 1961 and does a lot of great work in our community. VIEW of course stands for 'voice, interests and education of women'. For many decades, the VIEW club has been doing great work, with a particularly strong emphasis on education and helping kids get the education they need. It currently sponsors two financially disadvantaged students through the Smith Family's Learning for Life Program. Last year it ran its successful stationery drive to provide stationery and resources for disadvantaged students. To Jan McKenzie and everyone from East Hills VIEW Club, thank you for what you do for your community.

On 12 February I attended St Charbel's Maronite parish in Punchbowl. St Charbel's is one of the largest church congregations anywhere in Australia and has a tremendously positive impact in our community. In particular, I congratulated Salim Diab, who received the Canterbury Bankstown Volunteer of the Year award for his terrific work at the church. It was great to catch up with Father Abboud and Father Maroun Youssef, who is the Principal of St Charbel's College, which has more than a thousand students. So much great work was acknowledged by the Premier, who also visited St Charbel's on the day I visited. It is a tremendous group in our local community.