Thursday, 1 August 2024

Hoa Nghiem Buddhist Temple

Meng Heang TAK (Clarinda) (17:15): (752) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide the latest update on the upgrades to the Hoa Nghiem Buddhist Temple in Springvale South. I am informed by the Venerable Thich Thien Tam that there have been some developments with the building and planning permits, and there is definitely some excitement amongst our Vietnamese community and the broader community in the south-east about what is coming next.

Our state is home to more than 120,000 people of Vietnamese ancestry. Our Vietnamese community is significant in size, but more importantly, it has made a significant contribution to our vibrant society. For many Victorians from multicultural and multifaith backgrounds, our temples and our community groups offer important connections to their culture and heritage, and these groups deserve the best possible community spaces to celebrate and share their culture and traditions. This is a significant investment and one I am really proud of: $250,000 towards delivering upgrades to the Hoa Nghiem Buddhist Temple for Victoria’s Vietnamese community in Melbourne’s south-east.

In fact I am extremely proud of the government’s broader investment in multicultural infrastructure in our community and across Victoria over the last few years, with $50 million of investment to build, upgrade and renovate our new community infrastructure for multicultural and multifaith communities. We have had significant investment locally, including $100,000 invested to help renovate the existing facility at the Hellenic Community of the City of Moorabbin Ltd, improving community spaces for our Greek community. There have been similar investments in the South Eastern Melbourne Vietnamese Associations Council so they can keep supporting the Vietnamese community across the south-east, with an $80,000 investment to help their work, and more than $400,000 in support for the Springvale Asian Business Association to support the Springvale Lunar New Year celebrations and our multicultural traders.

It does not matter where you are from, what you look like, what you believe or what language you speak, in Victoria we are proud of our cultural diversity. The Allan Labor government will continue to deliver investment to build, upgrade and renovate community infrastructure for multicultural and multifaith communities. I commend the work to the minister, and I am looking forward to her response.