Children's Festival

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-103949

Hansard session: Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session (56-1)

Children's Festival

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (17:32:52):

Today I recognise the Children's Festival 2018. Over the past 20 years the Children's Festival Organisation has run 29 successful festivals across several Sydney suburbs, giving generations of young people the chance to demonstrate pride in their culture, art, heritage and language. I acknowledge and congratulate a good friend of mine, president Thuat Van Nguyen, OAM, on his vision for a better connected community and on pioneering this event. This year's festival received an overwhelming response from schools, youth groups and multicultural communities that enthusiastically participated in the children's parade and on-stage performances. I am impressed that more than 40 youth groups from five continents participated in the festival.

Children are a starting point in building social cohesion. The Children's Festival is one of the best ways to create harmony in our community and to make us feel proud of being Australians. The experience of the festival has shown that this event is contributing to a more cohesive society and promoting peace in our community. By bringing people together in a fun family atmosphere, the festival showcases our wonderful diversity and helps us to build a more cohesive and harmonious society. Under the motto "Play Together and Live in Harmony", the Children's Festival is a day for everyone, but especially for children, to get together in a multicultural environment to have fun, join in creative activities and share those new experiences with each other.

The entertainment of great music, dancing, traditional costume displays, outdoor games and activities was second to none. The myriad of workshop activities, such as kite-making and flying, and the lion dance were a great source of entertainment and enjoyment for all festival attendees. In New South Wales, we now speak 215 languages, come from 229 birthplaces and from 307 ancestries. Our children keep such traditions alive while forming the future of our peaceful multicultural society. Research demonstrates that culture matters for children's development and wellbeing. We are cultural beings. We learn to communicate and understand our world through context of our languages, traditions, behaviours, beliefs and values. Our cultural experiences and values shape the way we see ourselves and what we think is important. Culture creates community. Cultural perspectives also influence how we do our parenting, how we understand children, how we help them grow up and how we teach them new skills.

I am extremely proud, as we all should be, of Australia being the most successful multicultural society in the world. Training and raising our children to be culturally aware and inclusive are the building blocks to making this statement true for our nation. Children learn and mimic things—I know because I have a four‑year‑old. They mimic things that they see around them and in their worlds. When we do not model respect and acceptance of cultural diversity to the next generation, we are allowing a breeding ground of racism, stereotyping and discrimination to develop. I hope that our actions, words and behaviours reflect kindness and genuine curiosity to learn about cultures different to our own. May we be wary that we all need to think before we speak and consider others' feelings, especially us who, as members of this House, are elected to represent many nationalities within our electorates.

I conclude by recognising and thanking all of the hardworking volunteers who have contributed tirelessly over many years to staging an amazing multicultural Children's Festival. I thank the 2018 organising committee, which consisted of more than 100 people. I give a special mention to the co-chairs, Mark Burfield and Kana Phung; the treasurer, Gurmeet Kaur; the vice-presidents, John Pestana and Kana Phung; and the secretary, Brian Laul. I again thank the president, Mr Thuat Van Nguyen, OAM, for hosting me and some of my parliamentary colleagues on this wonderful occasion. I had a great time attending the festival earlier this year. Ilook forward to seeing many Children's Festivals to come.