Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the highlights of the campaign for me was the now-government's commitment of $4.7 million in funding for the Vietnamese Museum Australia, which will be Australia's first museum to focus specifically on the incredible journey and contribution of Australia's Vietnamese community. The Vietnamese Museum Australia will preserve and celebrate Vietnamese heritage and culture, including the stories of at least 110,000 Vietnamese refugees who were welcomed by Australia between 1975 and 1995.

Each of these 110,000 stories is unique and each of them is remarkable. For each of these stories there is a person or a family whose life was completely disrupted, who had to leave everything behind, who had to undertake an incredibly perilous, often life-threatening, journey. Many of these people spent years in refugee camps. All of these people were ultimately welcomed by Australia—something that I think everybody in this chamber is now proud of—and all of these people in that period and since have repaid that gesture many, many times over.

The architectural design of the building will incorporate many features that celebrate this journey, starting with the towering waves and featuring Australia's red earth. I look forward to the many steps in the completion of this incredibly important project.