Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Statements on tabled papers and petitions

Victorian Multicultural Commission

Report 2021–22

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:15): As disappointed as I am to see that lively debate on the very interesting topic of advocating to bring the SBS to Melbourne cut so short so soon, I do rise today to give a statement on the Victorian Multicultural Commission’s annual report for 2021–22. In the spirit of the previous contribution and in the spirit of multiculturalism in Victoria, I do want to echo actually much of what Mr Davis just said about the wonderful multicultural state that we have here. I recall a few weeks ago that Mr Tarlamis and I and some of our colleagues from the western suburbs were meeting with a group of people who had come from overseas and who were finding out more about Victoria and about our Parliament. Our colleague from the west said, ‘I come from the west. We’ve got the most multicultural part of Australia,’ and Mr Tarlamis and I said, ‘No, no, no, the south-east is the most multicultural part of Australia.’ It was a wonderful thing for us to be fighting over. I might just say, whilst I am sure we will get to the substance of Mr Davis’s motion on another day, it is quite a strange experience to find myself agreeing in principle with what he has to say. So I look forward to the debate on SBS and how we can hopefully attract them to come down to what is of course the best state. No offence to the New South Wales government or people, but why would you want to be in Sydney? You would obviously want to be in Victoria, and being the multicultural capital of Australia, perhaps Dandenong should be the new site for the SBS. You are hearing it more and more – Dandenong.

But I would like to talk briefly about the wonderful work of the Victorian Multicultural Commission as well. I would also like to call out its esteemed chairperson Ms Viv Nguyen, along with her dedicated team of commissioners and other staff as well. We have had successes such as Cultural Diversity Week and the multicultural gala dinner, and these events simply would not be possible without their dedication, their hard work and their commitment to the liveliness, to the encouragement and to the celebration of our state’s multicultural communities, bringing together from all around the world people from some 200 places of origin, I believe, who call Victoria home. It is a truly special thing that so many do call Victoria home.

As I just mentioned, in the south-east we are particularly privileged to have such a huge array of different cultures all coming together and all celebrating. I could probably spend the next few minutes just talking about all the many, many different events. We have had Tamil New Year events, we have had Ukrainian celebrations and we have had all sorts of other things as well. I had the absolute pleasure of representing the Minister for Multicultural Affairs Mr Colin Brooks at an LGBTIQ+ Islamic event at the Pride Centre a few weeks ago too. It is important to recognise that there are people from all walks of life who all want the same thing for themselves and their families and their friends, which is to be accepted and to be supported, and it was a real privilege to be a part of that event too. I am sure many other members here could go into great detail about the many, many different things that they have been touched by through their multicultural communities in their electorates, whether they are in the multicultural capital of the south-east or in regional centres – we certainly have significant populations there. I would like to acknowledge and congratulate the leadership team of the Victorian Multicultural Commission, particularly for their exceptional efforts with organising the recent Cultural Diversity Week. We have seen many other wonderful celebrations too.

I also do want to acknowledge that whilst there is much to celebrate, we have also seen a very small, very narrow section of the community try and rise up against that and stand for hate and intolerance. In fact we saw a few of them on the front steps of Parliament a few months ago, and I am sure that in this chamber we are all united in condemning that behaviour and we are all united in saying that is unacceptable. I would also say that there probably is a reason why we see them in Melbourne and we see them in Victoria, and that is because we are the multicultural capital of this country. This state is a celebration of what it means to be Victorian and what it means to be bringing your culture wherever you are from into this state and celebrating it as one as Victorians. It is a disgrace that some people see that and seek to stand against it and organise hideous rallies and whatever they were doing at a gym in Sunshine on the weekend, but the Victorian community will say no to that, has already very much said no to that and will always say no to that. That is one of the many reasons I am proud to be Victorian, because in this state we come from many different parts of the world but we stand as one.