Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) | Link to this | Hansard source

BURKE (—) (): Abla Kadous is the New South Wales Senior Australian of the Year for 2022. Hajji Abla has worked in my community for over 35 years. In the year 2000 she established the Islamic Women's Welfare Association in Lakemba, to which she has dedicated herself ever since. She never would have expected that by dedicating all that work to women through a centre in one suburb she would then be given this honour for her whole state. Led by volunteers, the IWWA is a thriving hub of activity and was born out of a need to cater for the growing faith and social needs of Muslim women, particularly from different language groups. They have evolved as the needs of the community have evolved and provide a range of social activities for children all the way through to seniors. They run language classes and even jujitsu classes for teenagers.

Like a lot of organisations, Hajji Abla and IWWA have had to respond to the COVID-19 lockdown that hit our community hard and hit our community with rules that didn't apply to many parts of Sydney. They prepared hot meals and distributed food hampers around the clock, always relying on volunteers. Hajji Abla is an active member of my Watson Women's Network. Her long-term knowledge of my community and perspective is something that I value immensely. I offer my sincere congratulations to Hajji Abla.

Secondly, I want to acknowledge the Lunar New Year. It's now the year of the tiger. For many people in my electorate, particularly people who are of Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese heritage, there's a lot to celebrate this year. As is always the case in my part of Sydney, the invitation from each of those communities is extended to everybody for us all to celebrate together. On Saturday I attended the Korean lunar festival organised by the Korean Society. In Croydon Park I spoke with the Korean consul general, Mr Sangwoo Hong. In the conversation I asked him his sense of the values of the year of the tiger. He went straight to strength and bravery.

Looking back on the last two years I can't think of a more fitting way to describe how my community have been able to find a way forward after being the epicentre of the virus and living through one of the harshest lockdowns in Sydney. There were mounted police on the street. They were told the Army were being called in. Helicopters were flying overhead at night, waking people up. There was a curfew imposed that turns out was not in fact based on health advice. With very little support, small businesses ran down their savings. I was proud of the incredible resilience shown by my community during lockdown and after. They show great strength and bravery moving towards recovery.

Last year I spoke about how local celebrations for the year of the ox would be smaller than in previous years. This year Campsie will be back to hosting the night markets, complete with a lion dance. I wish everybody who is celebrating it a happy and prosperous Lunar New Year.