Friday, 1 November 2024
The Eight Restaurant, Haymarket
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Thank you, Christine.^[1]

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In greeting you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather, I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and future, and extend that respect to the Elders of all parts of our country from which you have travelled.

• Member for Granville representing the Premier,^[2]
• Member for Parramatta representing the Prime Minister,^[3]
• Parliamentarians, State^[4] and Federal^[5], past^[6] and present,
• former Justice of the Supreme Court^[7],
• distinguished guests, friends, family all,

In 1976, the Bulletin magazine included in its September 18 edition a 16-page lift-out devoted to the Australian-Chinese community as part of its ongoing series ‘The Australian Family’.^[8]

It included an interview with, and profile on, Mr Kip Fong^[9], the inaugural President of the Australian Chinese Community Association of NSW, whose 50^th Anniversary we celebrate tonight.

In that profile, Mr Fong offered the “interesting thought”, although this is the interviewer’s paraphrase, “that the Chinese are more adaptable than other [peoples] […] because their culture does not depend on visible symbols. The Chinese don’t need their own architecture, their own dress, or their own churches to secure their distinctive lifestyle. They need only the family.”^[10]

Now, we must remember the context for this remark – and indeed the entire “Australian Family” series, coming at a time precisely at which notions of Australian identity were changing, marking the beginning not only of the recognition of Australia’s multiculturalism, but also, more importantly, our pride in it, and embrace of the vital role in plays in our success and future^[11].

Mr Fong’s generation, as with those Chinese coming to Australia before him, had encountered something very different: a culture often hostile to their presence. To succeed in the broader community, they would have to quietly adapt; it was also left to them to look after themselves, their families, and their communities.

And so it was, in 1974, and noticing that many in their extended families, particularly the elderly, were often excluded from institutional supports, Mr Fong and other members of the Australian-Chinese community came together, as volunteers, to form the ACCA.

Today, the services ACCA provides in the aged care and support sector – which include facilitating provision of Home Care Packages and Commonwealth Home Support Programmes, as well as coordinating NDIS disability support – have expanded beyond the Australian-Chinese community to embrace all who need them, in particular those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

But ACCA’s mission has always been more than this. When Kip Fong came to Australia in 1940 aged 11, his father had to pay a private tutor to teach him English^[12]. By the time he was interviewed in 1976, after establishing himself as a successful business owner, his own children spoke with an Australian accent^[13] and many of their peers were attending University.^[14] They were set to become, in Mr Fong’s estimation, the base of a new professional class. “They will be a good class” he said, “They will be hard-working like their parents, but not as conservative. They will have more imagination and more daring.”^[15].

They would still, however, in forming this uniquely Australian-Chinese identity, carry with them the love of, and pride in, family and heritage that their forebears brought here.

They are connections that the ACCA has helped nurture since its foundation: their Chinese languages school, which continues to this day; their organising of cultural events – performances, art exhibitions, and community activities – that not only maintain cultural and community connectivity, but also showcase and celebrate it.

Today, Australian-Chinese communities are no longer something separate to Australian culture and identity, but an integral and defining feature of it. Organisations such as the ACCA are important part of that story.

For all of this, for continuing the 50-year legacy of service to community begun by your founders, for your care and dedication, as Patrons, Dennis and I offer the warmest and most heartfelt of thanks to all ACCA members and volunteers, past and present.

Congratulations on your 50^th anniversary and the very best wishes for the future.

[1] Ms Christine Mok, President, Australian Chinese Community Association of NSW

[2] Ms Julia Finn MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier, Parliamentary Secretary for the Arts, Member for Granville, Representing the Honourable Chris Minns MP, Premier of NSW, Parliament of NSW

[3] Dr Andrew Charlton MP, Special Envoy for Cyber Security and Digital Resilience, Member for Parramatta, Representing the Honourable Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister of Australia, Parliament of Australia

[4] Mr Mark Coure MP, Shadow Minister for Multiculturalism, Shadow Minister Jobs, Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology, Shadow Minister for South-Western Sydney, Member for Oatley, Representing the Honourable Mark Speakman SC MP, Leader of the State Opposition, Parliament of NSW; The Honourable Damien Tudehope MLC, Shadow Treasurer, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, Parliament of NSW; Ms Donna Davis MP, Member for Parramatta, Parliament of NSW; Mr Tim James MP, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Shadow Minister for Fair Trading, Work Health and Safety and Building, Member for Willoughby, Parliament of NSW

[5] The Honourable David Coleman MP, Shadow Minister for Communications, Member for Banks, Representing the Honourable Peter Dutton MP, Leader of the Federal Opposition, Parliament of Australia; The Honourable Matt Thistlethwaite MP, Assistant Minister for Immigration, Member for Kingsford Smith, Parliament of Australia

[6] The Honourable Philip Ruddock AO, Former Minister and Member of the Parliament of Australia; The Honourable Helen Sham-Ho OAM, Former President of the NSW Legislative Council

[7] The Honourable John Dowd AO KC, Former Justice of the Supreme Court of NSW, Former Leader of the Opposition in NSW

[8] The Bulletin, vol.98 no.5024, available here. The instalment was the twelfth and final in the series, previous parts included, in order: the Germans, the Greeks, the Jews, the Americans, the Italians, the Dutch, the Hungarians, The French, the Yugoslavs, and the Spanish.

[9] ‘The Australian Family Part 12: the Chinese’, lift-out included in The Bulletin, 18 September 1976, [pp.4-5], available here

[10] ‘The Australian Family Part 12: the Chinese’, op. cit., [p.5]

[11] For instance, the 1973 release by Al Grassby, Minister for Immigration, of the reference paper ‘A Multi-cultural Society for the Future’; the Whitlam Government’s 1973 amendments preventing racial aspects of immigration; the 1975 Racial Discrimination Act; and the 1979 Act of Parliament establishing the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs (AIMA), whose objectives included raising awareness of cultural diversity and promoting social cohesion, understanding and tolerance: ‘Our History – Multicultural Affairs’, Australian Government Department of Home Affairs website, available here. See also: ‘Defining Moments: End of the White Australia Policy’, National Museum of Australia website, available here

[12] ‘I am a Chinese Australian’, Australian Women’s Weekly, 23 August 1978, p.56, available here

[13] ‘The Australian Family Part 12: the Chinese’, op. cit., [p.5]

[14] ‘I am a Chinese Australian’, op. cit., p.59, available here

[15] ‘The Australian Family Part 12: the Chinese’, op. cit., [p.5]