Thursday, 15 August 2024

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:12): Today is Indian Independence Day, and I wish the Victorian Indian community a very happy 78th Indian Independence Day. When you consider that Victoria’s largest source of international students is India, the ninth-largest source of foreign direct investment is India and our two-way trade with India is valued at almost $3 billion, you can understand why I am proud to be making my first trip as Premier in a few weeks time to India. We are so proud here in Victoria that we are home to Australia’s largest Indian community. More than a quarter of a million Indian-born Victorians live in our state. That is a quarter of a million mums and dads, kids, business owners, students, doctors, nurses, artists and engineers who are all working hard, making a fabulous contribution to our community and our economy and raising their families here.

It is one of the most important economic and cultural partnerships our state could have. That strong partnership with India means opportunities for Victorian businesses and families to succeed. Strengthening that relationship with India is not just about building our relationship even further, it is also about connecting people and business. And then there is of course the sharing of culture, that cultural engagement and that shared love of cricket as well. We also know that India is an enormous place of innovation, invention and opportunity – opportunity that every part of our state should be able to share in. We have long valued that strong and enduring bond our state has with both India and our strong Indian communities here in Victoria – a wonderful community of strong values, traditions and culture, who every single day make our state stronger, fairer and better. Once again, happy Indian Independence Day.