Wednesday, 4 February 2026

 Matt FREGON (Ashwood) (09:41): It is fantastic to be back with you all for another wonderful year, which we have got off to a great start down in Ashwood. The new year, as always, highlights the importance of our multicultural state. In what has become a local custom, we open our multicultural calendar with the Tamil Festival at the annual Thai Pongal celebration, and this year thousands of us welcomed the new year. I thank chairperson Siva, his whole team and the whole Tamil community for once again putting on a fantastic event. On Australia Day, which was the next day, we gathered at Monash council to welcome our newest Aussies on our national day. Citizenship ceremonies are always one of the best parts of our job and even better with a fantastic sausage sizzle staffed by the wonderful Ashwood–Mt Waverley Lions Club, which, yes, I am a member of, but I was not on the tools. Tuesday – the day after – I and the member for Glen Waverley were welcomed by the Chinese Association of Monash to celebrate Lunar New Year. I thank Michael Mao and his committee for sharing the day with us all, and xīn nián kuài lè dà jiā.