Harmony Day

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:27): Today is the 20^th anniversary of Harmony Day, a day that also coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Discrimination. Australia is a nation built on multiculturalism, from the world's oldest continuing culture of our First Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world, and Harmony Day is a day for us to celebrate this cultural diversity.

It is a day to celebrate the benefits and the potential that cultural diversity brings, a day to celebrate and learn more about other cultures. To live harmoniously in Australia it is essential that we ensure that everyone is made to feel equal and involved and treated with fairness and respect. I strongly believe that equality, acceptance, inclusion and respect are values that together we need to continue to grow in our community, our parliaments, our councils, our schools, our sports clubs, our work places and our families. We can help progress this by the rejection of racism, the rejection of prejudice and the rejection of division in all these forums.

Today, on Harmony Day, I would like to pay tribute to a special person in our community who passed away suddenly on Tuesday 22 January 2019—Aunty Wendy, a proud Ngarrindjeri woman from Raukkan, a small Aboriginal community on the banks of Lake Alexandrina between the Murray River and the Coorong here in South Australia.

Aunty Wendy holds a special place in the hearts of many of the students and staff at Wandana Preschool and Primary School and the wider Aboriginal community in South Australia. Her contribution and support to the community will live on through the many stories and connections she shared with so many people—stories of the Aboriginal Dreamtime and the travels of her ancestors. In reflecting on how Aunty Wendy strived to educate and bring together our community to promote and celebrate our cultural backgrounds, I now share these words from Wandana Preschool and Primary School:

Aunty Wendy's involvement and support for the Wandana community came about because her daughter, Kathleen, was here for kindy and school for the last nine years. She has been an active member of the school for many years serving on the governing council, helping across the school in classrooms and the Aboriginal parent group, Nunga Pride.

She was very active in the kindy sharing stories about her life, Dreaming stories and helping with our fire pit activities. She made damper and lovely soups and stews for us all to share.

She was always ready with a hug, a bright smile and words of encouragement and advice for the Wandana students to focus on being successful at school.

Her warm loving energy was matched with her firmness and high expectations, which helped the kids and taught them to try hard at everything, do their very best and [to not] be shamed.

She gifted us all her knowledge about Aboriginal culture and gave our Aboriginal students a sense of pride. Her knowledge and love will be remembered and passed on for future generations.

In Ngarrindjeri way, when someone passes away it's a really sad time, but what we do is celebrate that person's life and all the wonderful connections they made with their family and friends.

We will miss Aunty Wendy very much.

Gone to walk with her ancestors.

Harmony Day has been celebrated in Australia for 20 years, and this year it is being celebrated throughout the week. Since Harmony Day began in 1991, more than 25,000 Harmony Day events have been held across country. As I do each year, tomorrow I will be attending a number of Harmony Day events at local primary schools in my electorate of Torrens, including parades, assemblies and picnics, as well as visiting classrooms, participating in special Harmony Day activities.

As a parent and former teacher, I feel strongly about educating on the value of understanding the continuing message of Harmony Day—that everyone belongs and that it is about community participation, inclusiveness, respect, belonging and celebrating diversity. Harmony Day is focused on encouraging tolerance and acceptance, respect of other cultures, languages, history and faith. Harmony Day represents the many different peoples who live in Australia and enrich our society.