Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

There is no better place to enjoy a meal than in Griffith, and it is all home-grown food. You would love it, Member for Chifley; trust me.

I say that in the context of this bill because Griffith understands about providing a safe haven for migrants. My goodness, they were flooded with migrants just after World War I, and our returning soldiers from that deadly conflict were offered soldier settler blocks. But the flood of migrants after World War II was quite remarkable. Persecuted people from war-ravaged Europe, including Italians, all descended on Griffith to eke out a very tough existence in what was an unforgiving plain; but they turned into a fertile garden of Eden.

I say all that because they understand what it means to be a multicultural community, and they also understand what it means to be an Australian citizen. I know, from talking to the many Indians, the many Fijians and, as I said before, the many Italians and others from all countries and all walks of life who are in Griffith, that they get what it means to be an Australian. Many of them have not been here for many generations, but they are certainly very proud of their community. Many are very proud of their roots, but they also understand that being an Australian means fighting very hard to protect the ideals, the high qualities and the preferences that our nation has provided, and they understand that it is absolutely criminal to rise up and oppose those high ideals, that very high calibre of being an Australian.

This bill goes to the fact that citizenship should be respected and never, ever taken for granted. As this bill states:

… Parliament recognises that Australian citizenship is a common bond, involving reciprocal rights and obligations, and that citizens may, through certain conduct incompatible with the shared values of the Australian community, demonstrate that they have severed that bond and repudiated their allegiance to Australia.

We get that. The new powers in the bill are necessary. They are an appropriate response to the evolution of the terrorist threat—the hatred that lingers in the hearts and minds, sadly, of the people who wave that terrible black flag, who call themselves Islamic State. They are not a state. A state builds things. A state looks after its people. A state understands the freedom to express different religious beliefs and faiths. A state understands that there ought to be fairness; there ought to be equality. A state does not tear down. A state does not destroy. A state does not kill. That is why this Australian citizenship amendment bill is so important.

As I said, Arora gets it. I think her words depict beautifully what it means to be an Australian. They eloquently describe what it means to be a citizen of this great nation. She and all her Yenda Public School mates, and, I would suggest, every kid who is in a Riverina school, understand how great it is to live in this nation. The passage of this bill also means that this nation will be a safer place and that we will not tolerate people who want to kill and destroy in the name of religion, in the name of terrorism. Those children understand that it is important that this nation is the safest of all in which to live, and that is why I commend this bill to the House.

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