Members statements
Moonee Valley Festival
Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for Medical Research) (10:11): It has been a heartwarming couple of weeks in the Niddrie electorate. First, I had the pleasure of attending the very much revamped Moonee Valley Festival, coming back after a six-year hiatus. A highlight of the day was definitely the citizenship ceremony, which for the very first time was held outside. With the Melbourne weather being perfect on 24 February, it was just sensational – we welcomed 120 new Australian citizens. It was a particularly moving moment seeing the crowd come together singing We Are Australian, waving the Aboriginal flag in one hand and the Australian flag in the other. I received an email from a community member who said they had been a globetrotter and had been to several citizenship ceremonies but this one was by far the very best: ‘It could not have been a better day.’ And I could not agree more.