I am so delighted to be here with you
Fifty years of anything is a significant event. To be able to sustain a hospitality business half a century – to come through all those changes and not simply survive but to be actually thriving – that is something absolutely worth marking in style.
We’ve joined together tonight to celebrate half a century of Navarra – a great Australian business that proudly wears the name of an extraordinary family.
For decade after decade, you’ve been the magic ingredient in some of the most special moments in so many lives.
And what you’ve achieved adds up to a great Australian story.
Like many great Australian stories, it’s a story that began on the other side of the world – but it was only in Australia where the pages were big enough to write the full story.
And it all starts with Filippo Navarra.
Filippo’s migrant story is shared by generations of Australians.
It is a story powered by the one simple idea that is the true, beating heart of aspiration – the desire to build a better life.
Migration stories are rarely easy. To leave home for a distant land can be a leap into the unknown.
But as he swapped Sicily for the hustle of 1960s Sydney, Filippo had what it took to make a go of it.
Like so many Italians, he arrived on the migrant ship Oceania in 1962. I can only imagine he came down the gangway at full speed. He still hasn’t slowed down.
Filippo says that from the day he arrived he liked “the quality of the country”.
A place where there was plenty of work, and plenty of opportunity for everybody.
It’s an enduring and vital part of what we celebrate about Australia.
And I like to think Filippo saw something else that was special about his new home.
Its people, and the diversity that makes our nation what it is today.
From the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who have been here for a period of time that defies imagining to the migrants from every nation, every faith and every background, who have joined our Australian family since.
Migrants who have brought skills. Experience. Energy. Initiative. Courage.
Making the big picture of our nation even bigger.
And that’s what Filippo did, starting a business that, with the help of his wife, Sarina – another Sicilian-born powerhouse – has grown with this city.
Sarina was an entrepreneur ahead of her time, and I know she is greatly missed.
For 50 years, the Navarra family has been working with generosity and fortitude.
As a thriving local business, Navarra Venues sees what a future made in Australia looks like.
A future of overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities.
A future built on the skills and energy of our people.
As an employer, you’ve provided jobs and training to hundreds of Australians.
Enabling them to seize their own opportunities.
And we see your generosity put to work in your charitable arm, Navarra Care Foundation, which raises money and, with partners like St Vincent de Paul, feeds the hungry.
In your words, you’re harnessing goodness. So just as Navarra is a name we have come to associate with the special moments in life – all those celebrations, all those bright milestones it’s also a name that means helping people out, and softening the harder moments in life.
I’m proud to stand before you as the first Australian Prime Minister with Italian heritage.
And I am every bit as proud of the fact that, growing up in the inner west, I have always felt a special connection with Australia’s Italian community.
Generations of Italians have made such a powerful contribution to this country.
In business and politics, education and healthcare, culture and community.
The Navarra family has always embodied that spirit.
From the day you landed in Australia, Filippo, you’ve been a dreamer of dreams.
And, with your children and grandchildren, you’ve helped so many thousands of people realise theirs.
You’ve made it your business to make dreams come true.
Congratulations to Navarra Venues on a magnificent 50 years.
Auguri a tutti!