Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to congratulate the Cairns and District Chinese Association, known as CADCAI, for their vibrant Chinese New Year celebrations. The Cairns Festival was held over a 15-day period and was a great opportunity to share in and celebrate North Queensland's rich Chinese history. Some of the highlights included spectacular Chinese lion and dragon dance performances, a yum cha, and even a Cairns hockey club race day. The final night, with a brilliant Chinese New Year lantern festival and fireworks, was shared by many hundreds in the Cairns Esplanade. My beautiful wife, Yolonde, and I had the pleasure to attend a banquet event: it was a wonderful evening, with such colour and absolutely magnificent food.

CADCAI's vision is to build a Chinese cultural and heritage centre in Cairns to promote the Chinese arts, language and history in Far North Queensland. The centre will provide a permanent home for the valuable Lit Sung Goong temple's collection and other historical artefacts. The facility will be dedicated to the early Chinese settlers, who were some of the early pioneers in the development of Cairns, dating back to 1876. I look forward to helping CADCAI reach their funding needs to build on this vision, and I congratulate President Lai Chu Chan, the hardworking members of the association and their volunteers for a tremendous 2023 Chinese New Year that we experienced in Cairns.