Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in my place today the proud member for Lalor, Chief Government Whip responsible for the care and consideration of the members of the Labor Party of this House, and I join this debate. Every instinct in my being wants to leave this chamber rather than join this debate. I'll give you a couple of reasons. One is, as I listen to the tropes from some of those opposite, and I look to my left and I see a First Australian, I wonder who asked what they thought about immigrants coming to this country. I look across this chamber and I see modern Australia reflected here. I see the electorate I represent reflected here, an electorate where fifth-generation Australians thrive and first-generation Australians thrive, and they thrive by living together. They thrive by looking after one another, they thrive by supporting one another, they thrive by challenging one another to do better every day.

I absolutely understand that change, for some people, is difficult to deal with. I understand that the pace of change can be challenging for everyone. But I understand that our modern Australia relies on us to see our sameness rather than reflect on our difference, because what do we all want? We all want what's best for our children. We all want a thriving economy for our children to grow into. We all want a world-class education system for our children. I'll tell you what the first generation of Australian migrants are bringing to my community: they're bringing aspiration, they're bringing passion, they're bringing will and drive. They're bringing want for their children to live in a great Australia. They come here to make a contribution and they are making a contribution every day in my community.

I'm going to share a moment with the chamber, if I may, in terms of how this has manifested in my community. On 15 December, the morning after the Bondi massacre, I attended an event in my community. It was the retirement of a school principal of a Catholic primary school. When I arrived, that Catholic primary school greeted me and said, 'Joanne, in the shadow of the events of last night, thank you for being here to spend some time with the community.' I was able to speak and say how good it was to be with the community of faith on that morning, and to hear that community of faith send their love around the country to every Australian. It was a beautiful thing to do. In the afternoon I was at a school graduation—a very new school in my community—with probably two of what are considered traditional Australian kids in that school. The school council president got up to make a speech—a Muslim man who has been in the country for three years. His child was one of the grade 6 graduates. He sent his love around the country on that day. He paused, on what should have been a celebration for those children, to mark that occasion and to make sure that everybody there understood how he was feeling, how our Muslim community was feeling and how important it was for us to come together to support these young people and to keep moving.

Immigration has been the backbone of this country. From a 16-year-old ancestor of mine who got off a boat and walked farm to farm in the Geelong region looking for a job as a domestic servant, I am a descendant of immigrants, as are the majority of the people who are in this House every day. If we're going to talk about immigration, we do need to make sure that the facts that are put on the table are correct, and it is distressing to be part of debates where you can't rely on people's understanding of net migration, the different reasons people come to this country or the value that they bring when they come in through the door to us.

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