Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Wednesday, 21 February, was United Nations International Mother Language Day. This day is a very important day for promoting inclusion and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. International Mother Language Day is a really important day in my electorate. In Chisholm, more than 50 per cent of people speak a language other than English in their home. People in Chisholm speak 149 different languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Greek, Sinhalese, Hindi, Vietnamese, Tamil, Italian and Korean. We have many fabulous language schools in our community that work to enhance our linguistic diversity and pass on traditional knowledge, languages and culture.

I was recently honoured to visit the Bengali Language and Cultural School, where I joined in celebrations for International Mother Language Day. This is a very important day for this community, and I was so honoured to be included. I congratulate everyone involved for a terrific day that connected language, identity and culture and shared that with our community. In my electorate we have the Mang-Non Vietnamese Language School Association in Burwood East, the Greek Orthodox Community of Box Hill and Districts, and dozens of other language schools. Language schools in our community play a vital role in keeping mother languages alive and fostering the next generation of multicultural communities.

On the weekend I also had the honour of officially opening the brand-new facilities at Khalsa Punjabi School in Blackburn. Our government delivered $100,000 for upgrades to the school. The new facilities include two new portable classrooms, two new air conditioners and six interactive classroom smartboard bundles. There was also fresh paint in five classrooms, corridors, bathrooms, a foyer and a kitchen. These upgrades will accommodate an increase in student numbers at the Khalsa Punjabi School and will enhance learning, which will benefit young students in Blackburn and surrounding suburbs. These new facilities will assist in the delivery of culturally focused language skills and will also be used by local community groups. Thank you to the Khalsa Punjabi School community for your kindness and hospitality. I hope you enjoy your beautiful new classrooms.

I want to very sincerely thank the community leaders and language teachers who work so hard to pass on their language to young people in our community. I am so proud and privileged to represent our beautiful multilingual and multicultural community in Chisholm.

I also want to take this opportunity to highlight the terrific news received last night about our government's cost-of-living tax cuts passing the Senate. From 1 July this year, every single Australian taxpayer, all 13.6 million of them, will receive a tax cut. This side of the House wants Australians to earn more and to keep more of what they earn, and our bigger tax cuts for more taxpayers will help make that happen. In my electorate of Chisholm, this means that, from 1 July, 81,000 people in my community will receive an average tax cut of $1,640. Sixty-six thousand more people in my electorate will receive a bigger tax cut than under the previous plan. I am pleased that 82 per cent of taxpayers in my electorate of Chisholm will receive a bigger tax cut than under the previous plan. I know this is going to make a significant difference to families right across my community.

Our government's No. 1 priority is addressing inflation and cost-of-living pressures. We know a lot of people are doing it tough. Our tax cuts will deliver a bigger tax cut for middle Australia to help with the cost of living. This builds on our targeted relief while not adding to inflation. Already we have delivered electricity bill relief. We've made medicines cheaper. We've made it easier and cheaper to see a doctor. We've ensured that there is cheaper early childhood education and care and we've expanded parental leave. We're building more social and affordable homes and increasing rent assistance. We're delivering fee-free TAFE and we're seeing wages rising at the fastest rate in a decade, including for minimum wage and aged-care workers. We've done all of this at the same time as we've delivered the first budget surplus in 15 years and created a record number of jobs.

In my community of Chisholm I am so proud to represent a Labor government that will always put people first, and I'm especially proud to be part of a government that's delivering so much for the people I care about in my community.

House adjourned at 20:00

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Archer ) took the chair at 09:30.