Essendon Football Club welcomes 34 new citizens
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services, Laurie Ferguson, today praised the Essendon Football Club for its continued commitment to welcoming people from diverse backgrounds at a citizenship ceremony at Windy Hill.
Mr Ferguson conferred Australian citizenship on 34 people from a variety of backgrounds at the AFL club’s headquarters.
‘Today’s event is just another example of the fantastic work the Essendon Football Club is doing to build and strengthen its links with multicultural communities,’ Mr Ferguson said.
‘The club has been involved with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship in a variety of events, including citizenship ceremonies, in the past.
‘Sport is increasingly being used to convey a message of cultural inclusion and respect for our cultural diversity. It plays a key role in creating safe, strong and sustainable communities. Sport has proved itself to be a great vehicle to not only embrace differences but to learn from them.
‘When they are on the field, ethnicity or religion is of no consequence. The players’ love of the game creates a bond with their other team members, regardless of their origins.’
In 2007, Essendon established the ‘Walk in Harmony’ - a four kilometre walk which ended at Telstra Dome to celebrate the unity of multicultural communities through Australian Football. This year’s event was held in May in round seven against Port Adelaide.
‘Essendon is a leader in broad multicultural engagement, which is essential to our national cohesion. I urge other sporting institutions to be motivated by their efforts, ‘ Mr Ferguson said.
The club also has a multicultural program which was established to develop opportunities to engage people from diverse cultural backgrounds in the game of Australian football with the view to broaden both the participation and supporter base in the game.
The program targets students from diverse cultural backgrounds through an 18-week school program which operates in 30 primary and secondary schools throughout Melbourne's north-west, reaching in excess of 3000 students.
Today’s new citizens came from Bangladesh, Belgium, Burundi, Chile, China, Egypt, former Yugoslavia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, India, Malta, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, United Kingdom and Vietnam.
‘They join some four million other people who have become Australian citizens and represent the diversity of modern Australian society,’ Mr Ferguson said.Media Contact: Khaldoun Hajaj - 0404 078 692
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au
/parlsec/media/media-releases/2008/lf08046.htm
Last update: 13 August 2008 at 17:14 AEST