CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr LIM (Tangney) (10:21): Earlier this month, constituents from the Indian Australian community in Tangney reached out to me about some of the racist abuse that has been said to them. There are people out there propagating division and hatred. This has serious consequences in my Tangney community.

With 162 different ancestries, this division is damaging our harmony. I know many of them do not want to speak out in public because they are afraid they will get worse or they will be ignored. As a former police officer, I always advise them to report to police; as a migrant, I also understand why people might not want to do so.

But I also do know that we all need to stand up and speak out against this type of bad behaviour. I have reflected on these conversations and also thought of recent Tangney events that brought people together. In June, I attended the opening of the Making Home Under Southern Skies exhibition at Yagan Mia Wireless Hill Museum.

This exhibit looks at the story of Chinese Westerns Australia from the early 1830s to the present day. With Tangney home to a large Chinese Australian communities, it was meaningful to have this exhibition held here in Tangney. Another two events in Tangney showed how we are looking after the traditions that matter to our elderly and supporting our future generations in connecting with their ancestry.

I joined celebrations for the dumpling festival held by Chung Wah Association and congratulated the Mukamai Tamil language school on their 10th anniversary. Recently, the Indian Society of Western Australia opened their doors to the Tangney and Burt communities. My colleague Matt Keogh and I hosted a multicultural leaders' forum with Minister Burke and Minister Aly.

There were powerful contributions from everyone who attended on that day, but the words of Dr Paul from the Baha'i community in Melville have stayed with me. He shared with me how he got to know his neighbours not only by their names but the football team they cheer for, where they work and what mattered to them most. He spent time truly trying to understand his neighbours.

This is a powerful reminder of how we can all contribute to the harmony of our community.