STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr LEESER (Berowra) (13:42): I want to acknowledge all those suffering as a result of the tragic floods on the Nepal-Tibet border, especially my constituents in the Berowra electorate, which is home to a significant Nepalese and Hindu community and to 11 of the 36 Australians who are still missing. I want to acknowledge the wonderful North Shore Nepalese community who I met with, including Hira Giri, its president, Prem Sapakota, Ganesh KC and Udah Bhatta and the extraordinary response that they've had, including the vigil at the fountain in Hornsby and Harris Farm Markets at Pennant Hills, supporting its staff.

I want to acknowledge the work of Minister Thistlethwaite and the Prime Minister's office for their assistance with consular matters that I have raised. Many from our community were in the region making the Hindu pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. Those missing include the Muralitharan family from Cherrybrook—Murali Chandrasekaran; Shylaja; Aarush, 11; and Ashwin, 15.

Murali is an engineer, Shylaja is a senior data scientist, and the boys attend John Purchase and Cherrybrook Tech. Also missing are the Iyer family from Cherrybrook: Sreedharan, Lakshmi, and their sons Rishab and Rudhra—two future doctors. Rishab's partner Sarada has been a wonderful advocate for the family.

Also missing are Rajeswari Sharma from Cherrybrook, and Uday and Kripa Shivamurthy from Epping. Uday is a long-serving technology professional and volunteer cricket coach, while Kripa has worked as an accountant for more than 25 years. These people are our families, they're our neighbours, and they're valued members of our community.

We hope for their safe return, and our thoughts and our prayers are with everyone impacted by the devastating floods.