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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-04 Daily Xml
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MATTERS OF INTEREST

UKRAINIAN CENTRE

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:27): On 14 December last year, I was pleased to represent the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Martin Hamilton-Smith, at the anniversary concert at the Ukrainian Centre in Hindmarsh. The concert particularly celebrated 60 years of Ukrainian settlement in South Australia. The event was conducted jointly by Yevshan Ukrainians Arts SA Incorporated and the Association of Ukrainians in South Australia (AUSA).

The concert featured dancers and bandura players from Yevshan, as well as invited choirs and other performance groups from the Ukrainian community. These included a wide range of junior dance groups, the Volya senior dancers, the Kalyna, Berehyina and Irmos choirs, the AUSA Community School and the S.o.V band. In addition to the concert, other anniversary festivities included displays and stalls featuring Ukrainian books, CDs, DVDs and souvenirs, as well as a variety of Ukrainian food, sweets and coffee in the UkrFest60 marquee.

A welcome speech was presented by Mr John Dnistriansky, President of AUSA. This was followed by an address by Mr Stefan Romaniw OAM, President of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations and General Secretary of the Ukrainian World Congress. An address was also made by the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, the Hon. Michael Atkinson. Also present was the federal member for Hindmarsh, Mr Steve Georganas.

Congratulations to all involved in AUSA and the Yevshan Arts Board on an excellent celebration of the 60th anniversary in particular, and of Ukrainian culture and history in general. It was appropriate that I represented Mr Martin Hamilton-Smith at this event given that a few weeks earlier he gave notice of a motion in the House of Assembly regarding the 75th anniversary of the Great Ukrainian Famine, known as the Holodomor. That motion, which I understand is likely to be moved tomorrow, is that the house:

(a) notes that 2007-08 marks the 75th Anniversary of the Holodomor, the Great Ukrainian famine of 1932-33, caused by the deliberate actions of Stalin's Communist Government of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics;

(b) recalls that an estimated 7 million people in the Ukrainian Republic starved to death as a result of Stalinist policies in 1932-33 and that millions more lost their lives in the purge that ensued for the rest of the decade;

(c) notes that this famine resulted in one of the greatest losses of human life in one country during the 20th Century and that it has been recognised as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation and its people by the Verkhovna Rada, the Parliament of Ukraine;

(d) honours the memories of those who lost their lives and extends its deepest sympathies to the victims, survivors and families of this tragedy; and

(e) joins the Ukrainian people throughout the world and in particular, people of Ukrainian origin and descent in South Australia, in solemn commemoration of those tragic events.

I understand that Mr Hamilton-Smith moved that motion at the request of the AUSA and the national federation. I also understand that similar motions have been moved in the federal, Victorian and New South Wales parliaments and that the government in this state is likely to support the motion.

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