COVID-19 India

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:52): The recent COVID outbreak and subsequent lockdown in Victoria should serve as a reminder of what people overseas have been dealing with on a massively larger scale on a daily basis for more than a year, often with tragic, unimaginable outcomes. South Australia's strong Indian community, with which I have developed a genuine bond over recent years, is doing it particularly tough, as they look on helplessly at what is happening to their loved ones on the subcontinent.

When we get a few cases of COVID, we are rightly alarmed and have the processes in place to deal with it. I am on record as saying that Australia, in a bipartisan approach, has done a great job in taking measures to shut down the virus when it raises its ugly head. Now we are in a position to help other countries. India is one of those countries that is not so fortunate. Their outbreaks are many times worse than anything we have experienced and their resources are pushed to the limit and beyond.

This is where the more fortunate, affluent countries like Australia can and should help. COVID has shown us like never before that the world is a global community. Beyond just being the right thing to do, it is in our best interests to help our brothers and sisters overseas. I call on the governments of Australia, federal and state, to help. We need to put measures in place to assist countries like India, which are working against great odds to deal with victims of COVID.

India is in dire need of a vast range of medical supplies and we are in a position to provide many of them. They need ventilators, oxygen concentrators, antigen kits, thermal guns, hand sanitiser, surgical masks, gloves, gowns, pulse oximeters, safety goggles, the list goes on. Vaccines are needed and so are ICU beds.

As I went down the list of items they were lacking, the need for what was listed as 'dead body wrapping bags' was a sobering reminder of how desperate the situation is over there. While Australian governments contemplate what they can do to help, the local Indian community is doing all it can to raise awareness and much-needed funds for their relatives and friends back home while trying to remain positive.

The Aalap Indian Association held a charity gala night on 5 June to raise funds, and when you look at the list of those groups that worked together on the night it really drives home the strength and spirit of our Indian community, and how much they are a part of the greater South Australian community. I would like to name these associations as follows: the United Indians of South Australia, the Hindu Council of Australia, the Guru Nanak Sewa Mission, the South Australian Indian Australian Medical Association and the Adelaide Tamil Association.

There were also the Telangana Association, the Adelaide Metropolitan Malayalee Association, Desi Australia, Gurjari South Australia, the Uttarakhand Association of South Australia, Adelaide Brahm Samaj, Adelaide Dawoodi Bohra Jamaat, Adelaide Marathi Mandal, Adelaide Kannada Sangh, Arjun Entertainment, Art of Living, the Bharatiya Hindu International Malayalee Association, Dindori Pranit Shree Swami Samarth Seva Marg and Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan.

Further, there were FICSA, Haryanvi Kunba South Australia, IACF Adelaide, the Indian and Australian Art Cultural Association, Indian Professionals in Australia, the Indian Association for Human Values, Jai Durga Sanskar Mandal South Australia, Jat Mahasabha South Australia, Kalalaya, the Nair Service Society of Adelaide and Patidar Samaj of South Australia.

Finally, there was the SA Indian Medical Association, the Sargam Musical Forum, the Shirdi Sai Baba Community and Cultural Association of South Australia, the Shree Sanatan Dharam Society of South Australia, the Talaash Indian Bollywood Band, the We Breathe Cricket Club and the Adelaide Warriors Cricket Club. The last of those groups mentioned shows how much we have in common with our Indian friends, after years of great respect and rivalry on the oval playing cricket.

The world is affected by COVID but the subcontinent is doing it particularly hard at the moment. The South Australian Nepalese community also got together on 5 June to hold the COVID-19 Nepal Aid Fundraiser. This was a commitment between the AussieMed Foundation, the Honorary Consulate of Nepal and several South Australian community groups in support of the Australasian Nepalese Medical and Dental Association-led medical aid projects to mitigate the COVID second wave being experienced over there.

I read out all the names because the groups involved tried hard to convey how much the Indian community has assimilated into South Australia. That is a lot of people and a lot of organisations coming together to aid a country in need. If they can do it, so can we at an official level. I call upon Australia as a nation and on South Australia as a state that has, through good—

Time expired.