Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the weekend I attended the Ellenbrook Multicultural Festival for the second year in a row. It's been delivered by the Ellenbrook Multicultural Community and the Ellenbrook Punjabi Council together with the support of our local members, Rita Saffioti and, most significantly, Jessica Shaw. Beyond the huge range of delicious food stalls, stunning cultural performances, traditional games and informative workshops, it shows to me the power of coming together as a community, recognising the value of such an ethnically, racially and culturally diverse community that we have in the seat of Hasluck. It is a true privilege in my role as an MP to be invited and to be able to celebrate this wonderful and diverse electorate. Only the weekend before, I was at the Sikh gurdwara to celebrate the birth anniversary of their first guru. Before that, I was trying to lift boulders at the Scottish Highland Games in the Swan Valley.

In my first speech I spoke about one of the country's greatest strengths being our ethnic and cultural diversity, and it is absolutely something we need to foster and grow to continue to learn from each other. There are so many organisations like the Ellenbrook Punjabi Council who are doing exciting and important work throughout our suburbs, and it's always an immense pleasure to see the colour of our beautiful community on display as it was this weekend.