Tuesday, 31 October 2023

 Juliana ADDISON (Wendouree) (13:55): Today I wish to thank president Elangovan Shanmugam and members of the executive of the Ballarat Indian Association for the opportunity to celebrate Diwali with the Ballarat Indian community on the weekend. I wish to thank members of the Ballarat Indian Association executive: Manoj Khandelwal, Rakesh Patel, Geetha Stephen, Ayon Chakraborty, Neil D’couto, Rajinder Gill, Sumira Gambhir, Dr Sundram Sivamalai, Bandhavi Naga, Xavier Mani, Harisankar Parippaayillam and Ashish Kakaan.

It was a great honour to attend the event with the Honourable Catherine King, mayor Cr Des Hudson, my parliamentary colleagues Martha Haylett and Michaela Settle and intercultural ambassadors. Well done to Geetha and Sumira on emceeing the joyous event alongside Ujjwal and Tharunesh. It was a wonderful celebration of community, with outstanding cultural performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Thank you to the sponsors who supported the event.

The Allan Labor government is proud to support Diwali and other multicultural festivals and events, including the recent Ganesh Chaturthi festival, which was held in September in Ballarat. I am also proud that the Allan Labor government is providing $900,000 for the building of the Ballarat Hindu temple and cultural centre at Ross Creek. I wish all members of the Indian community a very happy Diwali.