OVERSEAS CHINESE ASSOCIATION

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (15:47): I wish to speak today about an event I attended recently with the Overseas Chinese Association to mark the 30^th anniversary of that group in South Australia. At the event I was very pleased to be joined by the Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia and the Chairman of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission, Mr Hieu Van Le; Mr John Kiosoglous, Chair of the Ethnic Schools Board; Mr Tung Shen Chin, President of the Overseas Chinese Association of South Australia; the member for Croydon; the member for Wright; and many other community leaders who have an affection for this association and the contribution that it makes to our state.

For over 30 years, the Overseas Chinese Association has been providing invaluable support to the Chinese community here in South Australia and to the newly-arrived migrants from all over Asia. Of course, the history of Chinese settlement in South Australia goes back much farther than that. The Chinese were one of the state's first migrant groups, with settlers arriving to our state in the 1830s. Indeed, if you visit the cove at Robe you will find a memorial to the Chinese who walked from Robe to the goldfields in Victoria.

South Australia would be a very different place today, both culturally and economically, if it were not for the incredible contribution of the Chinese community. The heart of the Chinese community is located in the Central Market, and, of course, that is often said to be the heart of Adelaide. So everyone who visits South Australia, both tourists and locals alike, witnesses the presence and influence of the Chinese community on our state and what a wonderful and fundamental role it plays in our everyday life here.

The state government strongly believes in supporting Chinese business in South Australia, and recently the Premier returned from a trip to China, where he conducted a number of meetings to strengthen this great relationship and trade and economic benefits between both nations.

The Overseas Chinese Association plays a valuable role not only in looking after the elders of its cultural heritage, but also in the young people who will carry the Mandarin language forward for generations to come. Each week, on a Saturday, when you go to visit the site down at Findon at the old primary school there, you will see hundreds of students learning Chinese, both of Chinese background and also of mainstream Australian background, people who have worked abroad and realise the significance that Mandarin will play in the future of their children's economic and work life in our nation, as China is now one of the largest—if not currently the largest—trading partners we have.

The Overseas Chinese Association has provided guidance and support and mentoring, not only to their own community but to the wider Asian community, so I would like to thank them for their support of multiculturalism, for their support of the growth of our state and for their economic ethos of hard work and teaching a new generation a language that is important for our nation and our state's prosperity. From their humble beginnings 30 years ago they have grown into one of the strongest and most active community groups in our state and their contribution has been fundamentally providing hope to many people. I would like to congratulate them and wish them well for many, many years to come and applaud them for their great leadership over the last 30 years.