Philippines Independence Day Flag Raising Ceremony

Dr ANDREW McDONALD (Macquarie Fields) [12.49 p.m.]: On 28 June 2008 I attended the flag raising ceremony to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Philippine Independence. Campbelltown City Council holds this flag raising event each year. The Federal member for Werriwa, Chris Hayes, Phil Costa from Wollondilly, Graham West from Campbelltown, and Aaron Rule, the Mayor of Campbelltown, also attended. Also present from Campbelltown Council were councillors Anoulack Chantivong, Julie Bourke, Meg Oates, Mollie Thomas and Rudy Kolkmann. The presence of so many elected councillors on the day indicates the high regard held by all in the Campbelltown local government area for our local Filipino community The Hon. Maria Theresa P. Lazaro of the Philippine Consulate General was the guest of honour. The Consul is no stranger to us of course—she is a regular visitor—and we were privileged yet again to have her company.

There were many members of our large Filipino community present, including Rey Manoto from my electorate, who was inducted recently as the new President of the Philippine Community Council of New South Wales. Lolita Farmer, the President of the Global Filipino Association of Australia, and Lourdes Kaiser from the local Macarthur Filipino community were also present. As Councillor Rule said:

Friendship is a wonderful thing—it is something that develops over time, it is something that requires nurturing, and is based on that most essential ingredient—trust.

I am pleased to say that more than ever before the friendship between Campbelltown council and the Filipino community continues to grow and flourish. And this has been in no small way due to the efforts of Rey and Lourdes, whom the mayor publicly acknowledged and thanked for all their efforts. My electorate has a large number of people who are born overseas, and members of the Filipino community are extremely highly regarded for their dynamism and work ethic. There are now 88 million people in the Philippines, and in New South Wales there are 76,000 people born in the Philippines and more than 200,000 of Filipino descent. They are extremely loyal to their adopted country and give much back to the community.

Jose Rizal is commemorated in Macarthur with a park and a street named after him. He was a physician who was executed by the Spanish in 1896. His unfair execution is seen as the catalyst that triggered the Philippine revolution. Like all our modern Filipino community, he advocated political reforms by peaceful means rather than by revolution. He predates Ghandi as Asia's first modern non-violent political reformer. His legacy is that the Philippines is the oldest republic in Asia. The University of Visayas choir was here for World Youth Day and it sang brilliantly. Its rendition of Advance Australia Fair was inspiring. The Visayas University in Cebu is the oldest University outside Manila. Most of the choir members are undergraduates or at high school. They are a delightful bunch of young people who do great credit to their university, their country and to our local Filipino community.

The day was saddened by the recent Philippine ferry disaster in which family members of the master of ceremonies for the event, Max Lopez, the Sydney Captain Commander of the Order of Rizal, were involved. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families concerned. After that sad note, I am pleased to report that the day was a great success. On the day, books were donated to Campbelltown library, which has a branch at Glenquarie in my electorate, as part of the "Read Philippines" project. In my electorate, Tagalog is the fifth most common language spoken at home other than English, after Arabic, Hindi, Italian and Spanish. I regularly meet new members of the Filipino community at the Liverpool citizenship ceremonies; radio 2MCR has an hour of Tagalog radio at 7 o'clock on Friday nights. As Councillor Rule said, to finish:

Thanks for the friendships we have and share. Thanks for the cultural and economic bonds between our two nations. Thanks for the benefits that follow from those bonds. Thanks for the democratic values and traditions we share, and thanks for the Filipino community of Campbelltown who contribute so much to our wider city.

I also acknowledge and thank our Filipino community for its ongoing contribution to our local area, and I commend it to the House.