South Adelaide Malayalee Community

Ms COOK (Fisher) (15:17): I might change the tone a little bit. I rise today to speak about the South Adelaide Malayalee community and their wonderful Christmas celebration, which I attended on Sunday 27 November with approximately 500 community members. I was a very excited number one ticket holder. This is the second event that I have attended as a result of the Malayalee community coming to my office with a personal invitation following on from attending their own feast in September, and I feel really honoured.

The community is from Kerala, the southernmost state of India, and because they speak the language Malayalam, they call themselves Malayalees. Like the Indian community as a whole in South Australia, the number of Keralites living in South Australia has grown rapidly in recent times. Their community includes not just migrants but many students attending universities, colleges and schools.

Only 10 years ago, there were fewer than 7,000 Indian-born South Aussies. Five years ago, there were 19,000 and now it is estimated that we have around 30,000. Many are employed in health, community and social justice-related roles and I have met many in relation to this from the South Adelaide group. They are a very well-educated, informed and respectful family-oriented group with a great history of religious and social harmony, which is a great model for multicultural inclusion.

The celebrations of the community were started with the formal inauguration ceremony with Melna Puthiyedath, the convenor of the community's cultural program, delivering a very warm welcome speech. I was joined on stage by the member for Mitchell; the Mayor of Marion, Kris Hanna, as well as many other chief guests, including Mr Saji Chitilapilly, the President of the Adelaide Metropolitan Malayalee Association; Mr Suresh Nair and Jaiju Paulose. We all delivered felicitation speeches during the ceremony and we lit the lamp with Reverend Dr Frederick, aka Father Freddie, the Catholic chaplain for the community, delivering a very lovely message.

The ceremony was followed by a wonderful cultural program, mostly performed by the upcoming and very talented younger generation. They had amazing support from their big brothers and sisters and of course their parents. There was a lot of colour and some fabulous singing and dancing. It was pretty high quality, and my family was thoroughly entertained for more than two hours. The traditional Kerala drum ensemble of about 15 men was intense, and it went for about 10 minutes. I am told it can go on for four hours or more, so I was pretty happy with the timing on the day.

There were carols, skits and a whole range of other celebrations happening. It was truly a special treat. A special Indian Santa arrived at the other end, and my four year old was a little bit confused, I have to say, but it was interesting. The community recognised the valuable contribution of their talented young people, and there were certificates for Angel Punnose, Shalet Shaji, Alen Anil and Chris Johnson. They are very talented youngsters. I was given the honour of presenting the volleyball team, the Adelaide Eagles, their trophy.

There was a delicious traditional Indian food feast at the end, which added flavour to the event. There was a massive range of food. The member for Mitchell spoke about the Onam festival and how I was unable to stay for the food at that time because it was my son's fourth birthday. The member for Mitchell left early this time and he missed the feast, which was not vegetarian this time. It was full of chicken and pork, so he really missed out on a real delight.

He said that when he attended he was warned away from the very hot chilli dish. We were warned away from it too, but we took a great big spoon to harden up and away we went. Yes, it was pretty hot, but I reckon the member for Mitchell would have struggled. We coped. There were several sponsors there including Romeo James Colaco—

Mr Gardner: Are you defining masculinity?

Ms COOK: I beg your pardon?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Do you need protection, member for Fisher?

Ms COOK: Yes, I do because I believe someone is being a bit pompous, actually.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on one warning.

Mr Gardner: It's an extraordinary thing to say.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Ms COOK: Are you alright? Why don't you just be quiet?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Carry on, member for Fisher.

Ms COOK: I will keep going. We can have fun and enjoy our friendships in this house. We do not have to all be awful. The member for Mitchell and I had a good time at the celebration. We were having a bit of fun. There were several sponsors present, including Romeo James Colaco, past president of the Prospect Lions Club. Where would community events be without such generous sponsors? I want to thank several people: Nijo Joy, Sheena Punnoose, Shiju Sebastian, Mr Jimmy Joseph, Melna Shaji, Jaiju Paulose and Vinitha Thomas Paicattu. Vinitha is an intensive care nurse who is currently on maternity leave. She did a great job of hosting the whole ceremony.

Time expired.