Thursday, 22 February 2024

North-Eastern Metropolitan Region

Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:44): (698) My question is for the Minister for Ageing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs. As we all grow older everyone wants better for our parents and grandparents, as we will all grow old one day too. Now, what we find is that as our elderly reach that age of life where they need to go into aged care and support, there is often quite an adjustment, and that is not just about location and routine but often cultural. The home comforts of home-cooked food, cultural home cooking et cetera are important, and often that is the greater part of the adjustment. I recently met with Jaya Manchikanti and Vasundhara Kandpal from IndianCare, a great not-for-profit organisation that provides culturally sensitive support for our Indian community in my electorate and here across Victoria, protecting vulnerable women and supporting at-risk community members. The Indian community is very close to my heart, having lived there for some time. So my question to the minister is: would she sit down with the team at IndianCare and me to work out how we can work together and forward on providing culturally sensitive care for our Indian community and indeed all communities?