CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Ms McKENZIE (Flinders) (09:45): Today I rise to celebrate the opening of a renewed multicultural centre in Launceston, Welcome Cultural Services. This is much more than a refurbished building. It's a place where people are welcomed, supported and given the confidence to participate fully in our community.
I want to acknowledge the staff, volunteers, community leaders, families and partner organisations who have made this centre what it is. Buildings can be renovated with bricks and with paint, but centres like this are built by the people who work in them. They are built by the volunteer who sits beside someone as they practise the sentence that they are nervous to say out loud, by the staff member who helps a family understand a form, enrol a child, prepare for work or navigate a completely unfamiliar system and by the person who makes sure someone feels a little less alone on their first days in a new country.
I do have a personal connection to this organisation. A few years ago I volunteered with a program helping adults to learn the English they needed to participate in local work and business, and what stayed with me was their determination. Starting again is not easy.
Learning another language as an adult, particularly English, is not easy. Building a new life often far away from family, friends and everything familiar takes real courage. But when people are supported, they thrive.
When people are welcomed, they contribute. When people are given confidence, they build confidence in others. Our whole community is stronger because of it.
The Australian government contributed $2 million towards this project, helping transform the Harmony building into a modern and accessible hub for culturally and linguistically diverse communities right across Launceston and northern Tasmania. Between 3,000 and 5,000 people each year are expected to use this centre through workshops, events, partner programs and essential services.
That means thousands of moments where someone is told in very real and very practical ways 'you are welcome here'. At a time when difference can too easily be presented as something to fear, this centre tells a much better and stronger story. It tells us that hearing another language spoken in our streets is not something to be anxious about.
It tells us that a child growing up speaking more than one language has not lost something. They have gained something. It is a strength.
It tells us that helping someone learn English is not about asking them to leave their first language or their culture behind. It's about giving them another key to work education, services, friendship, independence and confidence, and that's the kind of community I want northern Tasmania to be, one where people are proud of where they've come from and confident as to where they're going.
Welcome Cultural Services give practical expression to those values every single day. It says to newly arrived families, 'we will help you find your feet'. It says to young people, 'your culture is not something that you should be ashamed of.
It is something to be proud of'. And it says to our seniors, 'you are not alone'. To everyone at Welcome Cultural Services: thank you for the work that you do.
To every person who walks through these doors: your stories matter. Your culture and your languages are respected and your contribution makes northern Tasmania stronger.