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

I love being able to speak about my electorate of Chisholm in this place. I cherish being able to attend cultural events and community activities. I cherish the work I get to do every single day locally, because I get to see how special the people in my community are. In my role, I get to see the excellent commitment people have to their neighbours and the care that they show to others. I'm very grateful to be invited to so many events right across my electorate.

I was really pleased that, last week, I was able to join the Chinese Association of Monash for their Spring Festival Gala—this was a magnificent event—celebrating the Lunar New Year with traditional dance song, food and stories. It's in these traditions passed down through generations that we can see how wonderful the diversity in our community is. It is so generous for people to share their cultural heritage with people from non-Chinese backgrounds, and I am really grateful for that. I wish everyone a wonderful Year of the Horse in this new year.

Last week, I was pleased to visit the WISE Employment site in Glen Waverley with Minister Rishworth. There, we saw firsthand the work of amazing employment consultants who help give real jobs to people who need them through government programs. They help people to understand what their passions are and what pathways they want to pursue. It's a really important model that we have. I thank the minister for joining us that day. She's always welcome back in the electorate of Chisholm. Indeed, all ministers are. I really do want to thank everyone who shared their stories so generously with me and the minister on that day. Some of their stories and experiences were hard to share, and I'm very grateful that they were able to do so with us so that we can do our jobs even better. Thank you so much.

I love our democracy. On Thursday last week, I was so privileged to join students at Wattle Park Primary School for a mock parliament. Our future leaders participated so well, asking excellent questions, and we had a terrific mock debate. I'm very certain that our future is in very safe hands with these young leaders, and I thank them so much for their enthusiasm and passion. Last week, it was great to visit the Inspire Early Learning Journey in Mount Waverley, seeing our early childhood educators hard at work. It was terrific and absolutely the highlight of my Friday to read stories to the children.