‘B*tch’ joke falls flat at Year of the Dog event in Melbourne

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull praised the Chinese community while opening a Chinese New Year festival in Melbourne. But a joke by an event organiser left Mr Turnbull looking a trifle bemused.

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull paid tribute to China’s economic progress during a hectic Chinese New Year celebration in Melbourne today.

But the PM looked somewhat bemused when the event organiser called herself a “b*tch” while joking about the year of the dog.

Mr Turnbull and wife Lucy topped the guest list for the Chinatown Chinese New Year Festival run by the Melbourne Dai Loong Association.

The couple and other guests including Premier Daniel Andrews and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy were mobbed by Chinese community members as they took part in the traditional dragon awakening ceremony.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy during Chinese New Year celebrations in Melbourne. Picture: Sarah Matray

Mr Turnbull, who has a granddaughter with Chinese ancestry, told the crowd that the 1.2 million Australians with a Chinese background had helped make us “the most successful multicultural society in the world” .

“We have been immensely enriched by that cultural diversity and it is part of our fabric and part of our success,” he said.

Mr Turnbull praised the achievements of China in bringing millions of people out of poverty in recent decades, and said that he and Lucy had a very warm relationship with China’s leaders.

“It’s very important seeing eye-to-eye,’ he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy chat with Dai Loong Association president Eng. Lim during Chinese New Year celebrations in Melbourne. Picture: Sarah Matray

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However, Mr Turnbull looked less than impressed when Dai Loong association president Eng. Lim tried to make a joke about the new year.

Ms Lim said that she wished she had been born in the year of the dog, so that she could be a “b*tch”.

“Take me for a walk, I’m a b*tch,” she said from the stage.

Melbourne City Councillor Philip Le Liu said he was offended and disappointed by Ms Lim’s joke.

“This kind of language should never be tolerated and used, especially when you are representing the Asian community,” he said.

“I hope Eng will apologise to the Melbourne Asian community and everyone else for the crude joke she made.”

Mr Le Liu said the city council was a major sponsor of the event and he will ask officers to review the sponsorship and collaboration with the Dai Loong Association.

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Dai Loong Association president Eng. Lim with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy at the Chinese Museum. Picture: Sarah Matray

China’s Consul-General in Victoria Jian Zhao boasted about his one-party state’s 19th National Communist Party Congress last year.

“That marked a new era in China’s efforts to build socialism with Chinese characteristics,” he said.

“Australia today is a mature multicultural society, and China has been on a new journey toward building a modern socialist country.”

Other dignitaries included federal Labor MP Michael Danby representing Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, state Multicultural Affairs Minister Robin Scott and Victorian Multicultural Commission chairwoman Helen Kapalos.

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