MULTICULTURAL AWARDS

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (15:24): I would like to speak today about the Governor's 5^th Annual Multicultural Awards that happened yesterday at Government House (the Governor's house across the road). I had the pleasure of representing minister Rankine at that event. It was judged by a panel of nine people led by Mr Alan Tidswell, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Mining, Energy and Engineering Academy, a person whom I have met through the Aboriginal lands standing committee and who does excellent work in his area. Assisting him was Ms Karen Ashford, Ms Cathy Chong, Mr Matt Deighton, Ms Stamatiki Kritas, Ms Sonya Feldhoff, Justice John Sulan, Mr Peter Ppiros and Judge Rauf Soulio. They determined the winners of this year's award ceremony. The 14 winners were really spectacular people and I will go on to speak about them later.

The whole reason for these awards is to recognise these individuals and organisations who do so much in our community to create a peaceful and harmonious state for us all. In Australia, we have a deep tradition of seeing immigration as an asset, as building our human capital, and as a positive addition to our economy and our society. Our community harmony is nothing but hard work, often, and it is not just something that happens with good luck. It exists for two very important reasons. First, we have provided the right conditions for diversity to exist and multiculturalism to thrive and, secondly, because of the extraordinary efforts of countless people (like the people we saw yesterday) with vision and leadership, and people who actively promote the ethos of multiculturalism and provide practical support to others around them.

Multiculturalism is not an end to itself but, rather, an appropriate policy in response to cultural and ethnic diversity in our population, making our nation inclusive, prosperous and harmonious. The extent and value we place on cultural diversity creates an environment where we feel valued and respected and we are all treated fairly. As a result, throughout our history, migrants have dedicated themselves to embracing opportunity in Australia—to advancing themselves and their families—and, ultimately, contributing their best to our nation.

Our diversity is one of our greatest assets, and our unique brand of multiculturalism is working exceptionally well and is the envy of other places around the world. This is an extraordinary story, considering the fact that over 25 per cent of the Australian population was born overseas, compared to 6 per cent in France, 9 per cent in Germany, 11 per cent in the United Kingdom, 13 per cent in the United States of America and 19 per cent in Canada.

We must never forget, though, that ensuring social harmony and inclusion will always be a work in progress. It is important that at every level of government and society we constantly reaffirm our commitment to the value of fairness and inclusiveness in our society, and try to find ways to acknowledge those individuals who work at the grassroots level, often behind the scenes and without being asked, to strengthen our community and provide support to others. That is what the Governor's Multicultural Awards truly stand for.

I would like to congratulate the following people who received their awards yesterday or were nominated but will not be mentioned in this speech. I would particularly like to acknowledge the Outstanding Individual Achievement of Dr Joseph Masika from the African community; in the arts and culture section, Ms Danyon De Buell; for the Community Sector Award, joint winners Pastor Brad Chilcott and Mrs Aysha Maski; for the Community Sector Award—Organisation, the South Australian National Football League; for the Media Award—Organisation, joint winners Messenger Community News and Radio Adelaide; for the Private Sector Award, Mrs Miriam Silva; for the Public Sector Award, Naracoorte Lucindale Council; for the Volunteer Award, joint winners Margaret Lovell and Mrs Hue Linh Ly. Also, joint winners of the Youth Award were Mohammad Al-Khafaji and Ms Lucky Giirre. The Youth Award—Organisation went to the Multicultural Youth SA team.

All these people and organisations make valuable contributions to South Australia and to the communities we all live in, and I praise them and acknowledge them as they were yesterday but also praise the people who were nominated but unsuccessful at this time. I hope they succeed in their community endeavours in the near future.