Thursday, 1 September 2022

Eid al-Fitr

Mr ERDOGAN (Southern Metropolitan) (09:46): Last Friday I had the honour of attending a multicultural celebration of Eid at Broadmeadows town hall. Although it was a belated celebration, it was still a fantastic evening celebrating the vibrant multicultural communities in Melbourne’s north. The night involved dance and music performances, awards to acknowledge some of the outstanding community organisations and businesses, as well as some delicious food to go with it.

I was joined by several other community leaders, representatives and dignitaries: His Excellency the High Commissioner of Pakistan, the Consul General of Pakistan, the Honourable Andrew Giles, Peter Khalil, Marie Vamvakinou and obviously a whole raft of the state Labor team, a team that is committed to multiculturalism. There are so many names to list here, but I will do so in recognition of their contribution: Minister Ros Spence, Minister Natalie Hutchins, Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, Deputy Speaker Natalie Suleyman, my Legislative Council colleagues Dr Kieu and Sheena Watt, and Minister Colin Brooks.

I would like to acknowledge in particular Dr Naveed Mughal for his work in organising this fantastic event. I was amazed by his ability to bring so many different multicultural communities together: members of the Indian community, Pakistani community, Bengali community, Iranian community, Afghani community and some of the African communities—just to name some of them. It is not exclusive; there were many, many more. It is fantastic to have these celebrations, and it was a fantastic evening, which I enjoyed. I want to wish everyone Eid Mubarak.