Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Father of the House. I would like to acknowledge that my electorate of Reid sits among many on the other side. I acknowledge the member for Watson, who is my next-door neighbour—electorally, that is. I imagine the member for Chifley may well follow me. The member for Greenway is a couple of electorates away; the member for Blaxland, who is not here, is another of my next-door neighbours. In that area of Western Sydney, we see a lot of each other and I know that the member for Watson shares my passion for this place. I will see him soon. I know Saturday is one of the two most important days in the Islamic calendar; I have not looked at my calendar yet but I have no doubt I will be spending a fair bit of time with both the member for Watson and the member for Blaxland. That is not an unusual occurrence. I also see a lot of the member for Greenway and the member for Chifley.

Like them, and like all in my electorate, which is an inclusive and tolerant place, I understand that Australia has been and always will be built on the back of migration. This is what makes us so great. Like the member for Sydney—and I have only been in this place for a little over 12 months—there are two things that are, hands down, my favourite part of the job. In case you are wondering, being in Canberra is not one of them. The first of those two things is citizenship ceremonies—and they have been mentioned—because no matter what your story or what your reasons, everyone in front of you that day has their own unique story and their own path they have trod to get there. They have their own language, culture, religion, dress and food—everything about them that makes them unique. Every time, without doubt, I challenge them to pass that on to their children, so that they may pass it on to their grandchildren, because that is what has always made this country great. It is what we should celebrate and foster. The second part of the job I love so much, whether it is in Canberra or in my electorate, is visiting schools. Two of my three children are at school in my electorate. Why do I love it so much? Because we are all just looking after this joint for them. And do you know what? Through the eyes of youth we could learn so much. Sitting five minutes from my home in my electorate—obviously not at the moment, because it is school holidays—on a normal school day are my two daughters surrounded by Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, atheists and Muslims, and not one of the children in those classes identifies anyone by race or religion. Neither do the vast majority of my electorate, the member for Watson's electorate, the member for Greenway's electorate, the member for Chifley's electorate, or the member for Blaxland's electorate—nor of any electorate in Western Sydney, which is where this is cutting.

I do not begrudge talking about this topic; we need to. People are scared—I get that. But when people are scared, leaders need to stand up. They need to lead by example, not by scaring people. There are two ways you can lead and the former, for me, is far superior to the latter.

Terrorists have two goals, and this has not been spoken about a lot. The first is that we fear attack; I get that. But the second is they hate what we stand for—freedom and democracy—and the best way they can attack us without actually attacking us is to turn us on ourselves, because we then do the work for them. We cannot, as leaders in this parliament, allow that to happen. We cannot allow any child of any religion—I will not focus on one; any religion—to be abused because of their faith, their dress or the colour of their skin. That is what we must stand shoulder-to-shoulder against and eradicate. I am only too happy to stand up, time and time again, in this House and debate this. I am not scared. I am excited that this was a topic of an MPI today, because it gives me a chance to stand up and be firm on behalf of the people of Reid, who do not talk about multiculturalism. We live it and we get it—that it has and will always make our country the great place it is.

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