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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-10-15 Daily Xml
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BHUTANESE INTERSTATE SOCCER TOURNAMENT

Ms BETTISON (Ramsay) (15:48): I rise today to share what was a really successful interstate soccer tournament held in my electorate. It was the Bhutanese Interstate Soccer Tournament held from 5 to 7 July. My office was very pleased to work with BASA, the Bhutanese Association in South Australia, to build support and organisation to host this interstate soccer tournament.

This is the only event of the Bhutanese community held at national level in Australia. The first championship was organised by Brisbane in July 2012 and the team from Adelaide, the Adelaide Dragons, won the tournament and then agreed to host the second tournament in Adelaide in 2013. We had participating teams from Hobart, Launceston, Sydney, Albury, Melbourne, Cairns and Brisbane. The aim of the soccer tournament is to reduce some of the factors that place Bhutanese youth at risk. These are some of the issues in regard to alcohol consumption and gambling.

One of the issues is that the journey of many Bhutanese refugees here to Australia is not commonly known. Many who may be considered to be ethnically Nepalese were asked to leave their country and were then settled as United Nations refugees in Nepal, and many were there for nearly 20 years. We had Bhutanese people starting to come to Australia from about May 2008. I am very pleased to say that many Bhutanese here in South Australia have settled into the Salisbury area. A recent analysis of people born overseas shows that 2.9 per cent of people born overseas living in Salisbury were born in Bhutan and 3.9 per cent speak Nepalese, so this a growing ethnic group.

This was an alcohol-free family event and it was held at the Burton soccer stadium. Unfortunately, the weather was not that kind over the three days of the event, but many people turned out to watch. As part of the organisational group—I participated in two or three meetings—we talked about significant needs in relation to accommodation and travel for the participants between the airport and Salisbury and also between the homes of the billets and Burton oval every day. They had to consider issues like covering public liability insurance, providing food to the players, providing first aid, trophies and umpires. For what is still a fairly new ethnic group, I was very impressed with their organisational skills.

The tournament was supported by some fantastic cultural events on the final day, with wonderful Bhutanese dancing and, most importantly, the very famous momo—the vegetarian dumplings. I pay special tribute to Suren Ghaley, the Chairperson of the Bhutanese Australian Association of South Australia and Indra Adikhari, the general secretary of the association. Also involved was Sushil Niroula, who is a project officer with the Australian Refugee Association.

The association organised some fundraising when organising this event, but were also supported by the South Australian government. I thank the South Australian government for its $3,000 towards assisting with this tournament. The Salisbury council also participated, as did Parafield Airport and Bunnings, where BAASA held several barbecues. Given that they are a group who does not eat beef, it was quite a unique event for them to provide sausages.

I thank my dad for giving a few lessons in how to barbecue. Woolworths also supported them, and there was some fundraising within the community itself with a film night and a table tennis event. The Bhutanese group is very active in this area and, under BAASA, there is also the Bhutanese seniors group, the Bhutanese ethnic school and the Bhutanese youth group.

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