Grievance Debate

Diwali Festival

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (15:36): Today, I rise to speak about the celebration of Diwali. It is something that has been celebrated by many members of our community across the state. It is quite widely known that Diwali is of significant importance in the Hindu spiritual calendar and in the multicultural event line-up that we celebrate here. However, Diwali is also one of the more broadly celebrated festivals by Sikhs and Christians and is a non-religious event across South Asia to celebrate fresh beginnings and light over darkness.

When people talk to me about what Diwali means to them, they talk about sharing it with family and friends and loved ones travelling from far and wide to unite at this auspicious time. It is truly inspiring to me that Diwali gets bigger and bigger across South Australia. For Hindus, it marks the beginning of the new year in the lunar calendar, and of course it involves the exchange of gifts, decorating and decluttering and freshening up your house, feasting and celebrating for many days at a time. It is also celebrated by our Nepalese and Bhutanese communities—and known as Deepavali—as well as some Malayan, Bangladeshi and Telangana communities.

One of the key things about Diwali is to open up your home to family and friends and invite people in whether or not they are celebrating traditionally. It is a great opportunity for us to share interculturally what Diwali means. I was very proud as shadow minister for multicultural affairs to host a gathering last week of representatives in the Parliament House courtyard. We shared a vegetarian meal, and I focused on asking my guests what Diwali meant to them, how they celebrate and how their families enjoy this.

First of all, let me thank the groups for attending on Friday: the Indian Australian Association of South Australia, Hindu Organisations of Temples and Associations, Guru Nanak Society of South Australia, Telangana Association, Punjab Aussie Association of South Australia. Adelaide Malayalee, Australian Haryana Association, Bharathiya Hindu International Malayalee Association, 5EBI, FICSA, Shruthi Adelaide, and the Bhutanese Australian Association of South Australia.

It was a very moving opportunity to hear what it means to them, and to some extent it is similar to the way I think about Christmas and the unique traditions of my family and what we celebrate. As I said before, a special practice for Diwali is to clean and refresh the house before the celebrations because it represents a new chapter and the beginning of a new year. Of course, we still have travel restrictions and limitations of gatherings here with COVID-19, so it has been a little bit different, as it was last year. It is a challenging time when people cannot celebrate it with everyone they would like to.

It has been a busy time for me, and I have been invited by many different communities. I have done my best to attend as many as possible, but can I thank the people who have invited me to their celebrations: the Nair Service Society of Adelaide, the Baps Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, the Telugu Association of South Australia, the Tamil Association of South Australia, the Sikh Society of South Australia, and the Punjab Aussie Association of South Australia.

I was delighted to be invited to those events. As to those I could attend, let me just tell you that as soon as it was possible, and with the restrictions in numbers, everyone was on the dance floor, according to COVID rules, to enjoy the time that we had. It is a very busy time for those people who are coming together and who are hosting events, and it is a particular time for me to thank the volunteers: those who run the ethnic schools, delivering the educational programs for young people, teaching the philosophy, culture and language, as well as their engagement of older community members through group activities for seniors.

It is a time for us to look at light over darkness, good over evil but, most importantly, to celebrate what is important to us. I could see that with our diverse community. They are very delighted to share it with all of us, and I wish them all the very best for health, happiness and prosperity over the next 12 months.