The NSW Premier, Chris Minns has described the annual Canterbury-Bankstown Children’s Festival as “an amazing festival”.
“It is such a privilege to see all these kids coming together, off their devices and off their mobile phones and playing in the community”, he told a crowd of several thousand at Playford Park in Padstow.
The Premier was making his first appearance at the annual festival which is celebrating 26 years of success hosting forty festivals across Sydney.
The Premier told the audience “There’s a lot written about what divides us in Australia today but not enough about what pulls us together as we live in this beautiful country.
“There is a very special message that comes out of this festival, and that is, nobody is born with race and hatred in their heart. They are taught it, when it’s just as easy to teach them to love one another, to respect each other, to live in a community like this and that’s exactly what this Children’s Festival does.
The Founding President of the Children’s Festival Organisation, Thuat Nguyen AM, told the crowd: “The Children’s Festival makes children feel proud of a special event created for them. The joy of children is also the happiness of the whole family.
“Children are our future. Therefore, we strongly believe that children are a significant starting point and also one of the best ways to build harmony in our community and to celebrate diversity, as well as to make all of us feel proud of being Australians”, he said.
The Federal Minister for Education, Jason Clare told the crowd of parents and children, many in national costume: “This is what Australia looks like.
“Australia is a country made up of people who come from all around the world from all different backgrounds, religions, cultures and when they come here to make it their home, we don’t ask you to leave them at border control. We ask you to bring them with you and that’s what makes Australia the best country in the world.
“The Children’s Festival celebrates all of that.
“It was a genius idea 26 years ago and today it is even more needed in the world we live in,” he concluded.
The festival on Sunday 27th October presented performances by children as young as four years old from different races, languages and religions portraying the cultures of Nepal, Ukraine, Indonesia, India, Scotland, Poland, Bulgaria, Bosnia, China, Russia, Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka along with mainstream popular culture.
