transcript: WAGGA WAGGA CITIZENSHIP CEREMONY AT RIVERSIDE PRECICNT, 26 JANUARY 2025
E&OE
STARTS: 9:17AM
ENDS: 9:22AM
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Well, thank you, Mr Mayor (Dallas Tout), and certainly happy Australia Day one and all. It's great to see so many people. The car park is absolutely chockers! So I will first read the letter from the Honourable Tony Burke, who amongst other things is the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. And he writes – and this is to our newest Australian citizens, ‘In a few moments time, Australia becomes an even better nation. When you make the citizenship pledge, you take on the privileges and responsibilities of Australian citizenship. From that moment, your journey and heritage will become part of our shared Australian story. We are privileged to share this beautiful country with First Nation Australians, the custodians of the world's oldest continuing culture. Appreciating and understanding this truth is a vital part of what it means to be Australian. Australia welcomes you as a full member of one of the most diverse nations on Earth where our citizenship is a bond which unites us all. Australia welcomes you and everything you bring to Australia. Today your new nation says to you, welcome home.
So that is from the minister, and this is from me – welcome it is great to have you, our newest Australian citizens who are about to become naturalised. I say this at every citizenship ceremony; this city was founded upon the Murrumbidgee River, the bend in the Murrumbidgee, just over there. Murrumbidgee means big water, deep water and wide water. It's Wiradjuri for plenty of water, but it is a dangerous place to swim in if you aren’t a strong swimmer. It's a dangerous place to go swimming in even at times if you are a strong swimmer, And that is why we have the regional Oasis Aquatic Centre, a beautiful centre just down near the main street there and I say to you, go and learn to swim there first. Marc Geppert will welcome you, it's a great council facility and it's one of the best facilities we have in this city.
And use it and use it often and don't venture into the water if you cannot swim because all too often, we have drownings, particularly at this time of year in the Murrumbidgee, and we just don't want that.
But today is a great day and we should be celebrating.
I appreciate it has different meanings for different people and I acknowledge that this nation has made mistakes in the past, what nation hasn't? But we certainly are making amends and we're certainly very much multicultural, diverse and inclusive. And this city is the best city in Australia, make no mistake. We should be celebrating today the fact that one of Riverina’s own Neale Daniher has become Australian Citizen of the Year. That is just so tremendous.
To think that an Ungarie boy from that famous Daniher family who mean much more to Australian than just Aussie Rules has become the Australian Citizen of the Year because of the work, the advocacy, the fighting he has done to raise awareness for motor neurone disease and that fight will go on.
There is so much fight in Neale Daniher and it's great that he has been finally awarded Australian Citizen of the Year, it's just tremendous.
Of course, we acknowledge Norman Alexander, who's been so many things to so many community organisations, particularly Veterans. Norman Alexander, who today received an OAM. Jill Ludford, of course, from Murrumbidgee Local Health District, has received a Public Service Medal and we acknowledge that too.
And I do acknowledge also Annette St Clair, last year’s Citizen of the Year and this year’s Australian Ambassador for Wagga Wagga, and we couldn't and wouldn't have a better ambassador. Annette, the work that you've done to raise awareness about melanoma and sun safety is so important.
So if you haven't slipped, slop, slap already, make sure you do. And if you don't, don't come across Annette because she'll lecture you as to why you should.
Today is the day about marking everything that is great about our nation, and we all know that the things which unite us are far greater than those which divide us.
Happy Australia Day one and all.