Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moreton for bringing such an important motion to the House, especially in the current political climate. Multiculturalism can mean many different things to different people, but to me it describes the reality of our nation. We are a nation made up of people from every corner of the world speaking every language you could possibly think of. In this place alone, if you scratch the surface, you will find that just in this chamber we have the member for Forde, with the name van Manen; the member for Caldwell, with the name Vamvakinou; and me, the member for Hindmarsh, with the name Georganas. We are just three of the many members in this House from diverse backgrounds, and that is something we should be very proud of. I think there would be very few countries around the world where you could arrive as a migrant with very little skill in English and have your children become members of parliament. It is something very special that we should cherish in this nation, because it shows what an egalitarian nation we are, and it shows that the cohesiveness of multiculturalism has worked very well for this nation and will continue to work well for years to come.

To others, multiculturalism is a policy that was introduced by the Whitlam Labor government, and it has been maintained by consecutive governments of different political persuasions and strengthened over time. In fact, it is precisely the bipartisan approach of supporting multiculturalism that has ensured its success and the unique success stories that we hear in our communities. Recently we have seen some attacks on multiculturalism. These elements within our society are very few but unfortunately very loud, and the noise that comes from these very few elements is scary because it brings uncertainty to this wonderful nation where we have had cohesiveness for many years.

When you look at this nation you see people from every corner of the world, as the previous speakers in this debate have spoken about. Every language that you can possibly think of is spoken in this nation. That is because people of different communities are not trying to overwhelm one another with their particular culture, language or traditions. It is about bringing the best of every culture from the world to this nation and contributing to this wonderful country of Australia, and that is why it has worked so well.

I have great pleasure in attending citizenship ceremonies. Nothing gives me more pleasure than going and seeing the joy on people's faces when they commit and affirm to our nation, which means that their future is here in this country—and, even more importantly, not just their future but their children's future and their children's children's future. You see the success stories: not just success stories of businesses, although there have been many of them, but success stories in every walk of life. Just the fact that a family can come here from a war-torn country, with absolutely no hope and certainly not being able to fulfil any of the dreams that they may have had in their home country, and fulfil some of those dreams is such a special thing. It is a special story that we have, and we are an absolute world example of living in harmony, living together and sharing those good things that we bring to this nation.

If you have a look around the world, there is no other country that is doing it better than we are. You look at the conflicts around the world and the different religious and tribal divisions. One of the reasons we have done it so well here is that we are an inclusive nation and we bring people in. We encourage people to become citizens as quickly as possible when they are here. We encourage people to participate and become part of our community, and all of this is through that fabric that we call multiculturalism.

As I said, it is a policy that was introduced in 1973, but the reality is that multicultural Australia has existed for many, many years. In South Australia, for example, we have the Afghani camel people who came over and opened up the centre of Australia. Their descendants still live in my electorate, with names like Abdullah and Halimah. These are people still within the western suburbs of Hindmarsh whose great-great-grandparents came from different parts of the world. So this motion is important, and we should call for the reaffirmation of these policies.

See this speech in context