Tuesday, 7 February 2023

 Paul HAMER (Box Hill) (16:12): Thank you, Deputy Speaker, and it is a real delight to see you in the chair this afternoon.

Congratulations to the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse for organising another successful Lunar New Year festival in Box Hill on Saturday 28 January. The New Year festival has not occurred since 2019 due to the pandemic, so it was fantastic to see it roar back this year, with the huge local attendance enjoying the rich variety of food, music and dance on offer.

For over 20 years the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse has provided support and leadership to the many Chinese businesses across Whitehorse and has been the driving force behind the New Year festival. I congratulate the ABAW president Bihong Wang, vice-presidents Tim Chen, Richard Shi and Stephen Zheng and all the other members of the ABAW executive and committee involved in putting on this great celebration. I would also like to pay thanks to the Prime Minister, the federal and state ministers for multicultural affairs and my many parliamentary colleagues, including yourself, Deputy Speaker, who came to the Box Hill Lunar New Year festival to help celebrate this special occasion.