Federation Chamber
Monday 22 February 2021

I'm proud to represent an electorate that is one of the most multicultural in this country. There are 60,000 people who live in the Oxley electorate who were born overseas, and we have one of the highest number of people with Vietnamese heritage anywhere in Queensland or Australia. The very best of cultures from every corner of the globe come together to make our community great.

Yesterday was International Mother Language Day, a day to highlight the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity and to remember the role that they play in building sustainable societies. Across my electorate, we celebrate many languages: Chinese, Vietnamese and Hindi, just to name a few. By preserving their mother languages, the people in my community are fostering peace and respect and passing down their proud and rich family histories to their children. We are creating a society where differences in culture and language are celebrated as an important part of the fabric of Australian life. I want to thank members of the community who are doing important work to keep diversity alive, our language schools right across the electorate of Oxley and also the Bangladesh community members, including my great friend Dr Jishu Das Gupta, who is working hard to raise awareness about the loss of mother languages. I'm proud that in my electorate members of my community tell the Australian story in diverse languages, celebrating where they've come from to become part of this country's bright future.