Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, was welcomed to Box Hill today for the 2023 Whitehorse Lunar New Year Festival.
The event, hosted by the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse with support from Whitehorse City Council, celebrates the year of the Rabbit. The Rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace and prosperity in Chinese culture.
“I’m not surprised so many leaders have made the effort to come to Box Hill to celebrate Lunar New Year,” said Mayor, Mark Lane.
“Box Hill is a thriving multicultural success story, where migration has directly contributed to the prosperity and cultural richness of our city. I’m proud of our strong, diverse community here in Box Hill, and across Whitehorse.”
Council provided third party event safety and traffic management contractors to help with compliance, planning and event management.
“This collaboration ensures a fantastic community festival for the people of Whitehorse and beyond, to experience something different and to share in special cultural traditions that go back thousands of years. The festival also gives a welcome boost to local traders,” the Mayor said.
Other guests at the event included MP Andrew Giles; Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Colin Brookes; Victorian Minister for Multicultural affairs, Michael Sukkar; MPs Dr Carina Garland, Keith Wolahan, Paul Hamer, Will Fowles, John Mullahy, Matt Fregon, Jess Wilson, Dr Matthew Bach MLC; Zeng Jianhua, Acting Chinese Consulate General in Melbourne, Victorian Multicultural Commission; chairperson Vivienne Nguyen and vice chair and Whitehorse local Bwe Thay, Bihong Wang, President of the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse.
