Lake Macquarie council has a sister city relationship with Hakodate in Hokkaido prefecture, and this year marks the 20th anniversary.
Delegates from Hakodate, including the Vice Mayor and Chairperson of the City Assembly, visited Lake Macquarie from 14th to 16th of November. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary, a mayoral welcome reception was held and a lot of participants including Mayor Jodie Harrison and the Chairperson of the Hakodate City Assembly made speeches.
In their speeches, both sides talked about cultural exchange opportunities they have had over the last 20 years, involving student exchanges, sports, and so on. They were thankful that the sister city relationship has resulted in their respective citizens developing a deeper understanding of another culture. They also expressed a desire to continue such exchange opportunities and further expand or improve certain aspects of the sister city relationship.
The strong sister city relationship between Lake Macquarie and Hakodate will continue to contribute to the advancement of friendly relations between Australia and Japan for years to come.
From the 3rd to the 13th of December, eight selected swimmers from the Fukuoka Swimming Association visited NSW, where they participated in joint training sessions with a local school and competed in the 2024-25 Speedo NSW Senior State Age Championships.
