CULTURE CONNECTS US ALL

CANBERRA, ACT, March 22 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release:

Xin chao.

I want to particularly welcome and acknowledge the veterans of the Vietnamese community.

You showed such courage in leaving the land of your birth to create a better life and freedom for yourselves, but also for the generations to come.

And I thank you for your courage, your resilience, and I acknowledge the sacrifice that you have made.

I come from Sydney, where in my local community of Marrickville, there's a very large Vietnamese Australian community.

And one of the things about the Vietnamese Australian community that is synonymous, whether it be here in Melbourne, or be in Sydney or Brisbane, or every part of this great land of ours, where Vietnamese have made Australia your home for the last five decades, is the leadership of women in your community.

And I want to acknowledge that as well.

So, to the wonderful Nicky who, last time I had an event at Kirribilli House in Sydney to acknowledge the 50 years of commemoration and contribution to our nation.

To your founder, Cam Nguyen, as well, it is great to see you both again.

It is so important to acknowledge the role that your community organisations have done.

Through the dedication and hard work of your members, you are the reason that events like this make it off the drawing board and on to what is an extremely successful event.

In so many ways, whether it is intergenerational care, caring for your elderly or making sure that your culture is handed down to these young boys and girls who are with us here today, the AVWA has been the backbone of your community.

In the process, you've added strength and cohesion to our country.

For that, we owe you our gratitude.

It is a great pleasure to be celebrating Culture Connects Us All.

What a perfect venue to be marking an occasion such as this.

The Immigration Museum invites all of us to reflect on and take pride in something that is at the very heart of the Australian story.

It's known to everyone and every community that have looked to this great land of Australia and seen the possibility of a better future for themselves and their families.

A place of sanctuary, a place of unlimited possibility, a place where new roots can be put down to flourish safely beneath our southern stars.

A continent that unites all of us, for the love of it.

Whether we're Australians by church, choice, or by birth.

And it's important to acknowledge that with the exception of First Nations people, we are all either migrants or descendants of migrants.

Earlier on, we spoke about the ending of the White Australia policy, so important by the Whitlam Government just before the arrival of Vietnamese refugees.

We need to be vigilant.

There are some, including some in political life, want to turn back the clock to an Australia that is no longer who we are.

And we need to call out those people.

And we need to continue to cherish our diversity as a strength for our nation, which it is.

The fact that people have come from all over the world, and there is no better example than the Vietnamese community.

The Vietnamese community, many of whom came as the wonderful song that we just heard depicted, making sacrifices, coming here with nothing.

The people who are now our doctors, our nurses, our teachers, our academics, our construction workers, our people who've made such an incredible contribution to Australia.

We should not take it for granted.

And today, like every day, we need to be proud of who we are as Australians, acknowledging our culture as the theme of today says - Culture Connects Us All.

And we're all enriched by it.

Last year, of course, we paid tribute to those early Vietnamese who came to these shores.

And we can never overestimate how hard it was for you to leave your beloved homeland to make those sacrifices.

But I think in part, because of those sacrifices, you came here with strength and resilience.

And you've shown that every single day.

Australia gave people safe haven, and in return, they gave this country strength.

50 years ago, as those early Vietnamese Australians set about making the best of all this country offered them, they also set about enriching every part of our national life.

And bit by bit, you have added to the social cohesion that makes Australia at our best, a beacon to the world.

A microcosm that can show the world, where there is so much turbulence and conflict, that people can be enriched by people of different faith, different backgrounds, different cultures, coming together and enriching us.

And indeed, the performances that you will see today - the performances of song, of national dress, and food, including banh mi, is very important as well, the contribution that you make.

Yours is an inspirational success story.

It is a bright light in the story of multicultural Australia.

And it is a glow that touches every Australian.

Thank you so much for giving me the honour of spending this morning with you.

Thank you so much for giving me the incredible honour of being Prime Minister of the greatest country on Earth.

It is something that I don't take for granted, something I work hard on each and every day, inspired by the ordinary Australians who put in to build this country, every single day and to make it better as we continue on the wonderful journey, and we write the next chapter of our great history.

Have a lovely day.

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.