Thursday, 5 February 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (09:50): We have all seen on social media, whenever we put up a post about a multicultural event, some xenophobic comments saying, ‘Where’s your Australia Day celebration?’ Well, I put to those kinds of people that Australia Day I think is the most supported amongst our migrant and multicultural communities. I was completely run off my feet with six different events, starting off with a citizenship ceremony in Broadmeadows at Hume City Council. I also attended the KMCC multicultural T10 cricket tournament in Deer Park. Thanks to chairman Shiyas Khalid for the invitation, and congratulations to the Western Tigers on taking out the win. I went to the Filipino Australia Day celebration organised by the Filipino Community Council of Victoria with my great colleague Wayne Farnham in Brooklyn in the western suburbs. Thanks to Roxanne Sarthou for that invitation. I went to the opening and celebration of Australia Day and Indian Republic Day at the new Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Rockbank. Congratulations to the community. I also went to the Assyrian Cup at Seth Raistrick Reserve in Campbellfield with our Assyrian community, and I topped off the day with the Australia Day Somali cultural night. I want to thank Farah Warsame, the president of Somali Community Inc. I also had the opportunity recently to attend with my colleague Trung Luu the Victoria Street Lunar New Year Festival. Thanks to Ha Nguyen and the Victoria Street Business Association.