Federation of indian associations of act (finact) Inc

Coordination :: Cooperation :: Collaboration

Happy Colourful Holi!!! May this festival of colors brings you, your family and friends joy & happiness!!!

As you may know, Holi the festival of colours signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair ruptured relationships. 

However, Holi came much earlier for Federation of Indian Associations of ACT. FINACT organised the Community Harmony Day on Saturday, 28 February 2015 at Theo Notaras Function Hall, Canberra. The theme of Australian Community Harmony Day is “THANK YOU” for this year. Most of the community leaders are voluntarily putting lot of their personal time and energy for the community with lots of passion. FINACT and its member associations recognized their contribution and read a citation at the event to say “THANK YOU” by offering a flower by the dignitaries.  

The aim of the event was to facilitate a networking opportunity for all of you with various Indian community leaders, ACT Ministers and MLAs, Commonwealth MPs, Senators, Key Government Officials and High Commission of India and representatives of other community organisations in ACT. The event was organised in an informal way that meant meet and greet.  

We had so many lovely and honorable people attended and ample time to speak to one and all.  There were: Vicky Dunne MLA Speaker of the House, Yvette Berry, MLA Minister for MC Affairs, Senator Kate Lundy, Senator Zed Seselja,Meegan Fitzharris MLA, Dr Chris Bourke, MLA, Brendan Smith, MLA, Mr Surinder Datta, Deputy High Commissioner of India. There were many leaders from multicultural community Gonzalos Olmos, Sam Wong, Martin Geroni, Alicia Dohorty, Dean Sahukhan, Willie Senanayake, Ziaul Hoque and Binod attended the event. Many leaders representing diverse Indian communities also attended and were recognized.  

The event also recognized the contributions of Senator Kate Lundy and FINACT gave a farewell by honouring her with a shawl (Indian tradition). Meegan Fitzharris, new MLA for Molonglo was also welcomed and honored by the members of the community.  

The event was successful and we received several compliments for the event, some of them are listed below:  

Many thanks for the opportunity to come along, it was a great afternoon and really showed the spirit and commitment of the FINACT organisations – Meegan Fitzharris, MLA  

Thanks for organising a great day last Saturday – Senator Zed Seselja. 

Congratulations on a job extremely well done.  I cannot remember of a community event so meticulously planned, organised and executed by any Indian associations in Canberra – Joe Bailey 

Please accept our grateful thanks for organising it so well. This team under your guidance has taken FINACT to levels unthinkable before – Ashok Jain

Please continue to pursue the relevant issues for the benefit of the constituent organisations - Kanti Jinna 

Thank you once again for your support in organising the Community Harmony Day and its grand success. I have raised Multicultural Ageing issues with many leaders including Minister Kevin Andrews (Former Social Services Minister), Senator Concetta Fierwantti-Wells (Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Social Services), Senator Zed Seselja, Andrew Leigh (MP), Chief Minister Andrew Barr and many government officials. Department of Social Services is organising Community Leaders Meeting on the issue next week.

Senator Zed Seselja is organising Senior’s Forum at Parliament House. Please find the flyer below. 

Punjabi Traditional Sports Festival is being held on Saturday the 7^th March 2015 at Deakin Oval. Please find the details below.

Please enjoy your long weekend and have a safe journey if travelling.

Regards

Krishna Nadimpalli

President

Punjabi Traditional Sports Festival on Sat 7 March at Deakin Oval

The following are the highlights of the festival

ACT Mini World Cup

With the Cricket World Cup being held in Australia and New Zealand. FINACT, Cricket ACT and ACT Sports jointly organised the ACT Mini (Multicultural) Cricket World Cup. ACT multicultural community reflects the world and people from all cricket playing nations living in Canberra in harmony. The tournament was a showcase to bring the Multicultural and Indigenous communities in the ACT together to celebrate the cricket and play a tournament.

The organisers are pleased to announce that the tournament was started successfully on 1 February 2015 along with ACT Global Cricket Day. The participants were India, ACT Indigenous, Pakistan, Ireland, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. 

Pakistan's community team won the match against India in finals. The awards ceremony was held

Holi Mela by IAAC on 21 March

IAAC  CELEBRATES HOLI MELA --21st March

WTH MUSIC, MASTI,DANCE, FASHION PARADE,FOOD AND DRINKS AND MUCH MORE