Organisers of the Pacific Pines Winterfest felt “honored” to invite Australian Falun Dafa practitioners to this year’s community event on the Gold Coast, Queensland.
The Pacific Pines Winterfest is one of the Gold Coast hinterland’s largest annual events, with over 6000 people attending the market stalls, rides, food trucks, side show alley, pony rides, and more.
Many people who came to the Falun Dafa stall had already heard about Dafa including the incumbent Queensland Member of Parliament for Gaven, Meaghan Scanlon.
Ms Scanlon has supported Falun Dafa practitioners on many occasions and, when she visited the Dafa stall this time, she happily accepted the China Organ Harvest Research Center’s latest publication, Medical Genocide: Hidden Mass Murder in China’s Organ Transplant Industry. She thanked practitioners for the booklet, said she would read it and posed for a photo to show her continued support for practitioners.
One of Ms Scanlon’s staff, Luke, was fascinated by the Peaceful Journey of Falun Dafa photo exhibition inside of the Dafa stall. He was particularly impressed by remarks from then China’s Sports director Mr Shaozu Wu, who in 1998 said: “Falun Gong and other types of qigong can save each person 1000 yuan in annual medical fees. If 100 million people are practicing it that’s 100 billion yuan saved per year in medical fees. [Then] Premier Zhu Rongji is very happy about that. The country could use the money right now.” Luke also posed for a photo with practitioners to show support, and said he would find ways the Queensland Government could help more people benefit from Falun Dafa.
Gold Coast City Councillor Peter Young was very pleased to learn that Falun Dafa has been part of the city’s Active and Healthy Program for many years, and offered to help practitioners set up a practice site in his electoral division. He happily took brochures and promised to pass it to his own staff.
Local resident Teresa passed the Dafa stall and took some pamphlets with details on where practice sites are held nearby. She signed the petition to help end the Chinese Communist regime’s persecution, and expressed her disgust at the Chinese regime’s crimes against humanity.
Several locals who were born in Mainland China visited the stall and took the opportunity to stop, read the Chinese-language brochures and speak with practitioners about their experiences with Falun Dafa. They were very grateful after learning Falun Dafa is great, and loved receiving a paper-folded origami lotus flower that in Chinese culture symbolizes peace and purity – something practitioners aim to achieve through Falun Dafa.
Festival organisers also welcomed practitioners to come on-stage and introduce the five sets of exercises to the audience. Many people listened with great interest and showed their appreciation with a big applause. At the end the emcee remarked how practitioners always seemed so calm and collected, and encouraged the audience to find out more about Falun Dafa.
Practitioners would like to thank festival organisers for a very successful event.
