VIETNAMESE NEW YEAR

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (15:23): I would like to speak this afternoon about an event I attended to celebrate the recent commencement of the lunar new year of the dragon for the Vietnamese community of South Australia, otherwise known as Tết. On 21 January I was pleased to attend for the third time the annual Vietnamese Farmers Association of SA new year celebration in Virginia. This year's event was particularly celebratory as it was held in the new and impressive Vietnamese cultural centre in the heart of Virginia.

The centre was only days old when I visited and is the realisation for this community of over 20 years of fundraising and tireless volunteer work. Indeed, less than 10 days before the event, the building slab had just been laid. The land on which the centre is built was purchased with foresight some 20 years ago and is on the main street of the Virginia township. This forward thinking symbolises the strong and proud history of the Vietnamese in South Australia.

When the Vietnamese community first came to Australia, around 37 years ago, this community was starting over in a new land and since then it has created a solid and integral community within South Australia and in the north of Adelaide. At the same time, they have maintained their long history and culture and shared it with the people in the north. The Vietnamese community demonstrates one of our state's strongest and greatest assets; that is, multiculturalism, and I praise them for that.

I was very pleased to present two cheques on the evening. The first, for $3,000, was towards the new year event on behalf of the state government. The second cheque was a personal one from me to this special community as their local state MP. The Vietnamese community in Taylor is strong and vibrant and I was pleased to present the inaugural Taylor Vietnamese Community Youth Leadership Award of $300 to a young man called Robert Dang.

Robert is a 19-year-old software engineering student at the University of South Australia. He was chosen by the Vietnamese community in our area to receive this new award. Robert is a prime example of hard work, responsibility and leadership. He not only succeeds at his studies but actively supports his family with the care of his 13-year-old disabled brother Anthony and participates in the Foo Dong Vietnamese Lion Dance and cultural activities with the association. I know that his parents are extremely proud of him and were there on the evening to cheer him on, as was Anthony. It was a great pleasure to meet them and to recognise this modest and hardworking young man.

The dragon, to both the Chinese and Vietnamese communities, represents luck, determination, strong leadership and good fortune, and during this auspicious lunar new period, at the Zhu-Linn Buddhist Temple new year celebration, the Premier shared that he was born in a year of the dragon. I thank the Vietnamese community for their great contribution to this state in the areas of culture and economy, particularly in the north of Adelaide. Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Xin Kahm urn kwee vee.