Over a morning tea meet, Jason Wood, the federal Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs hosted his leader Peter Dutton, the federal Opposition leader to meet with the Victorian multicultural leaders in Melbourne on Tuesday August 30.
Both Mr Dutton and Mr Wood spoke at the event and then spoke informally with leaders.
Speaking at the event, Jason Wood said:
“We’re here today with Peter Dutton, the Opposition Leader in Dandenong. Can I say, Dandenong’s probably the most multicultural suburb in Australia, so it’s absolutely proper to have you here today Peter, and also at the Tamil Association in Victoria.
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“The great thing about this community centre here, under the Safer Communities Fund program, all the security gates around and the closed-circuit TV cameras came from that program, which myself and Peter led for so many years and doing such great work.
“To have so many people from our various multicultural communities today to meet Peter and talk about some of their concerns, and issues from so many different groups, whether it be the African, the Afghanistan communities, also our great friends from India, Bangladesh, China.
“It was just great to have so many here today to speak to us and meet Peter as the Opposition Leader.”
In his first ever pitch to Victoria’s multicultural communities, Peter Dutton, thanking his shadow minister Wood, said:
“It’s fantastic to be here and I want to say thank you to all of the community leaders for their input, for their engagement. Some amazing stories and we’re keen, obviously, as a Party to see a greater diversity within our ranks and at the three levels of government, to see more people from different community backgrounds and different stories that they can tell in the Federal Parliament.
“Those perspectives are important to us as a Party because the multicultural community here, as is the case across the country, shares values with the Liberal Party. We believe very strongly in the sanctity of the family – in whatever form that takes – we believe in small businesses, of entrepreneurship, of the drive that people have to see their communities grow and their country prosper and so there’s a natural affinity with many of the groups that we’ve spoken with today.
“I want to say thank you very much, Jason, to you; you’re a real inspiration and a great leader in the multicultural communities here in Victoria, but around the country, in your shadow role as well. There’s a lot of work that we will do between now and the next election to connect with and to renew friendships with people in multicultural communities and I’m really pleased to be here in this amazing centre. I want to say thank you very much to all those who attended this morning.”