Ms BURKE (Chisholm—Deputy Speaker) (20:25): I rise to speak to the motion moved by the member for Bennelong and thank him for bringing it to the House tonight. This is a motion I am most pleased to speak to and support. Australia is a country built on migration. It has been one of this country's greatest sources of strength. Our Chinese community, whether living in Bennelong or in my electorate of Chisholm or elsewhere in Australia makes an enormous contribution to our society and has done so for many years. For more than 150 years, since the days of the gold rush in the 1850s, Chinese Australians have been an integral part of the Australian way of life, both culturally and economically. Whether as part of the country's first big mining industry or as market gardeners, farm hands, operators of grocery stores, part of import-export businesses, cabinet makers, entrepreneurs or industry leaders, the Chinese community have been the working backbone of this country. I do not think there is any place in Australia where this is more relevant than in my own electorate of Chisholm, where the influence of the vibrant and active Chinese community is the backbone of our society, particularly in suburbs such as Box Hill and Glen Waverley. Their influence has been profound. As revealed in the 2011 census released last week, my own electorate of Chisholm is home to more than 27,000 Australians of Chinese heritage, just over half of whom were born in China. It is a terrific testament to the quality of life in Australia and the value that we place on the Chinese community that we have such a wonderful mix of not only second- and third- generation Chinese Australians but as many newer migrants as well. You only have to spend a few minutes in my electorate—going to the shopping centre at Box Hill or Glen Waverley—to appreciate the enormous positive cultural and economic impacts of the Chinese community in 100 different restaurants and cafes, as well as a thriving fruit and vegetable market working alongside a variety of many businesses, be they medical or dental or legal practices, thriving real estate agencies or training colleges. They are all thriving and generating much wealth. There are import-export businesses. The drive and determination of the Chinese community of my electorate is palpable. Every year this area comes alive, particularly Box Hill, with the community run and supported Chinese New Year celebrations. We are one of the only areas that has a dusk-to-dawn Chinese celebration. I have not quite made it to stay all night yet. I saw dawn in on one occasion which was pretty good going. It is an amazing event and the entire community, not just the Chinese community, embraces this event. It is the biggest cultural event and festival held in my electorate. It is a cultural tradition appreciated not only by the Chinese community; more than 70,000 people can turn up to a Box Hill Chinese New Year festival. The continued success of these celebrations and the vibrancy of the small business community in my electorate are in part due to the work of the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse who put on the festival, raise a lot of money and donate it back to charity. The Asian Business Association of Whitehorse, which has operated for more than a decade, works to provide assistance to the local traders and operates with a connection to the area of the City of Whitehorse as well as broadly across Melbourne. The organisation's annual New Year celebrations and business networking events provide advice and assistance to small businesses, but nowadays it is also a backbone to my entire community. The association also produces the publication Brilliant Melbourne which keeps the Chinese community informed on what is happening around Melbourne. Publications like Brilliant Melbourne and Chinese Weekly and other newspapers in my electorate play a role in strengthening multiculturalism, social cohesion and participation throughout my community. Within my Chinese community in Box Hill they are predominantly Cantonese speakers of Indochinese descent or from Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysia. Within Glen Waverley they are Mandarin speakers of direct mainland descent. Nowadays these two groups, which for many years were at odds with each, other have come together in the business of uniting to work between Australia and China. I want to congratulate association president Andrew Yu and Vice President Ken Huang along with all members of the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse on the leadership they provide to our community and their involvement across the board in many things. I also congratulate City of Whitehorse Councillor Robert Chong, an outstanding community leader who has been involved in the community for more than 30 years, having come to Australia on the Colombo Plan and never gone home. He has done engineering and worked for the Australian Air Force and been a councillor at Whitehorse for many years. He is a backbone of our community and a backbone of the Chinese community. We also have the Chinese Women's Association, who are currently organising 25 years of service to the Chinese community and the wider community in my electorate—a big dinner is being held this year. There is the Chinese Social Services community organisation which provides aged care services to my community, and there is also the Friendship Association Chinese Table Tennis Club in downtown Box Hill, which also brings together many people through that great sport.