Last month, I joined 29 other delegates to the Australia India Youth Dialogue in Delhi and Mumbai, India.

Almost 5% of our Burt community was born in India, while many others have at least one parent from India.

This is a significant portion of our community, with many choosing to live in our growing suburbs of Piara Waters, Harrisdale, Hilbert and Haynes. They have also established the Sihk and Hindu temples in Canning Vale.

We have a very active Indian community in Burt and I have attended many community events organised by them such as the Diwali festival of lights and Pongal celebrations more recently.

The dialogue was held in parallel to the Australia India Leadership Dialogue, to discuss growing cultural and economic ties between our two countries

Topics discussed included how digital disruption is affecting civic engagement and work in both countries and what the younger generation can do to harness these changes for the benefit of both our communities.

As the third largest economy in the world, India will be crucial for Western Australia's economic growth into the future, and the Dialogue allowed me to build stronger links with India across the government, corporate, not-for-profit and social enterprise sectors.

I look forward to continuing to promote closer engagement with India in the future and am working to secure Perth as the venue for the next Dialogue.