Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am Australian. I was born here—and my parents et cetera. I do not have a new-migrant experience to speak of. No-one in my family, in living memory, was one. But a lot of what we've talked about today, a lot of we've heard about, focuses on identity and focuses on control. Australia does not belong to us; we belong to Australia. Australia is not a set point. It is not a fixed moment in time, and it has never been. It wasn't for 65,000 years. It wasn't 230-odd years after that. It's changed in my lifetime, from the late seventies to now, and it's changed for the better.

Our identity as a nation grows. It changes; it adapts. It becomes special. We take away from monocultures and we create something new, something beautiful, something that every single person in this country can be proud of—and we are proud of it. We're proud of it together. We're proud of it when we sing the anthem. We're proud of it where every single member in this House—I guarantee—attends a citizenship ceremony, speaks that oath and sees in the eyes of the people there the hope and the joy that they are now a part of this. They are a part of the beauty, and they are going to add to it. They add to it with their love, the love of their community, the love of the communities around them. They volunteer at our sporting clubs and our P&Cs. They're friends with our children. They introduce us to new foods. I know food is not the point, but, jeez, some of it's amazing, isn't it? The point is though that we will adapt and we will evolve and we will continue to. And, with each wave of migrants we've had, we've changed just that little bit more.

Now, I said that I don't have a new migrant story, but on 24 April 2025 my fiancee Renee became an Australian, and I'm so proud of her. She brought with her customs from New Zealand like the All Blacks. Her ways are not my ways, but she adds to it and she loves it. She's been here 20 years and she's paid her taxes and she coaches triathlon and she inspires kids and she is a net positive. My friend Xiao came over from China to study geospatial mapping. He is now a doctor in geospatial mapping, which I did not believe was a thing until he told me. He came to the Tablelands. He bought an acreage. He had kangaroos hopping in his backyard—something he could never have had in Beijing, something he is grateful for. He's moved down to Brisbane. His son was born in Australia—Luca. Luca is likely to support the Redcliffe Dolphins; no-one is perfect. Luca is grateful that his father made that transition to Australia and grateful that his wife Shirl came with him.

They are the Australian story. We've not asked them to assimilate. They've looked around and they've found the best bits that suit them and they've brought them into their lives. They've showed us the best bits of what they have and they've given it back to us. Assimilation is never the answer. It's never the answer, because, when you enforce that on somebody, they push back. When you look at somebody, at the person, at what they bring and you say, 'I love that; I'm going to make that a part of me,' and they look at you and they go, 'I love that, and I'm going to make that a part of me too,' that is what Australia is. I see it in Cairns. It started with our refugee community. The Bhutanese community arrived probably about 20 to 25 years ago. They struggled. Bhutan and Cairns are not very similar, but, with every cohort of new refugees that has come through, the Bhutanese have been there to help. They smooth their pathways. They make everything easier.

Cairns is the living embodiment of the success story that is Australia. I'm reminded of it every day at our festivals and at our schools and by the people who come to our events. We would have Vietnamese coffee—

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