Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's my pleasure to rise to support the motion to honour the 200th anniversary of the death of General Tadeusz Kosciuszko and his incredible legacy as an individual, but, of course, we honour him in this great nation through a mountain. General Kosciuszko made a significant contribution to the world and particularly, as many other speakers have mentioned, around driving the principles of equality of all people, regardless of their background, particularly on the basis of their gender, their skin colour or their religion. What it really reinforces is the contribution of the Polish community, not just in Poland but around the world. In fact, the electorate that I am very proud to represent, the federal electorate of Goldstein, is also named after somebody who is Polish: Vida Goldstein. I pronounce 'Vida' very specifically, with an emphasis on the 'i', and 'Goldstein' like 'beer stein' because I once found an article from 1904 where she explained how to pronounce her name. Vida Goldstein, like Kosciuszko, was a trailblazer in her own right.

Both of them actually stood up for the rights of people, whether they were part of that representative group or not. Both of them stood up for principles and values that sit at the heart of a liberal democracy: the principles of freedom that endure to this day. Particularly in the case of Kosciuszko, as I said, it's with reference to people regardless of their background, and it was similar with Vida. She was a suffragette who went on to stand up for the right of women to own property when they could not do so and the right of women, of course, to vote. She was actually a marriage equality advocate of her day, arguing that women should be able to enter into marriages on the same terms as men. And so today we don't just honour the legacy of Kosciuszko; we also honour the contribution of all Australian Poles to our great country.

Earlier this year I represented the government at an event for the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs, because the Goldstein electorate, named after a Pole, appropriately has one of the largest Polish communities in our great country. They were celebrating their 25th anniversary as an institute. On 1 February over 80 guests gathered at the Sandringham Yacht Club to mark this important occasion. Amongst the guests were the ambassador of Poland to Australia as well as the CEO of the Melbourne Cinematheque and many others. In particular, there were many people from the Polish community in Melbourne and the executive committee of the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs, including Adam Warzel, President of the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs. They have played an incredibly important role in bringing Polish speakers out from Poland to Australia not just to build and enhance the relationship between our two great countries, not just to invest in communicating the principles that their nation shares and the cultural common ground between us but also to recognise what we can learn from Poland.

What has been said by other speakers and I'll repeat now is that the contribution of the Polish community in Australia has been sound because it has been anchored in the ideals and the values that we mutually share. And they don't take the principles of freedom for granted. Because of the recent history of the tyranny of the Soviet Union and many other countries who have sought to impose their value system of conformity, Poles understand that the principles of freedom have to be fought for through sacrifice if necessary. It's through the solidarity of free people wanting to continue to enjoy their liberties that there is freedom to speak up, say unpopular things and speak truth to power. It is making sure that people are able to stand up and practice their faith without fear or intimidation in private as well as the public square. They understand that principle, and it's something that sits at the heart of our liberal democracy as well. But, more importantly, they saw firsthand the tyranny that comes when the government comes along and tries to suppress people's freedom and limit how they can engage in the marketplace. They saw that, if you try to control capital, in the end you will control people and you will stifle their ambition, their imagination and their capacity to make a contribution to build a better world.

The Polish people experienced that firsthand, and they have never forgotten that legacy and continue to be fighters for freedom in their own country and around the world today. It's on these days that we honour that contribution. We celebrate it, recognise it and wish them well into the future by acknowledging one of their favourite sons, General Kosciuszko; by acknowledging one of their greatest migrants to this great country, Vida Goldstein; and by acknowledging the continuing contribution that the Australian Polish community makes in our great nation today. Thank you very much.

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