Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Illawarra region has a large number of residents born overseas—that is what makes my electorate a very special one. In the electorate of Throsby there are some 25,000 people in this category. Of those people born in a non-English-speaking country, the largest percentage in Throsby are Macedonian by birth. It is also within this community that we have the largest number of people speaking a language other than English at home. The Macedonian community rightly places a great deal of pride in their heritage, their culture, their language, their religion and their identity. Being the daughter of migrants to Australia, I guess I understand the importance of this attachment.

The postwar immigrants from Macedonia continue their traditions through a range of local community organisations which, importantly, link the younger generation to the land of their parents and grandparents. I have had great enjoyment participating in a range of these events and remain impressed with the numbers of young people involved in such activities as dance groups, language classes and church activity. This community are very loyal and proud citizens of Australia who fully participate and experience the benefit of integration within the rich multicultural tapestry that is Australia today. Macedonian migrants in my region made an immense contribution to our postwar economic efforts and formed a large part of the local workforce, particularly in heavy industries like steel. They helped cement the foundations of our regional economy.

Throughout the Macedonian community there is a strong desire for the Australian government to give due recognition to the Republic of Macedonia. It is a matter constantly raised with me by my constituents and supported by the Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to Australia, Mr Viktor Gaber. Macedonia was, thankfully, spared the interethnic violence that occurred elsewhere in the Balkans following the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Broad and democratic rights have been provided in the Republic of Macedonia’s constitution for all its citizens, regardless of their national, ethnic, political or religious affiliations. It is a democratic political system with a multiparty parliamentary system. Today, in excess of 120 countries give formal recognition to the Republic of Macedonia. In fact, four of the five permanent UN Security Council members provide such recognition. Other countries that recognise the Republic of Macedonia include Canada, Israel, Malaysia, Paraguay, Poland, the Philippines, Serbia, Slovenia, Taiwan, Turkey, the Ukraine and Vietnam. Australia ranks with about a dozen countries that have to date refused to recognise the Republic of Macedonia, much to the great concern of the Australian Macedonian community. Recognition of the Republic of Macedonia is also an important element in the development of future constructive bilateral trade relations between our two countries.

Late last year the Australia-Macedonia Chamber of Commerce, with the assistance of the Macedonian trade commissioner, Peter Ristevski, organised a roundtable forum here in parliament with the Macedonian Minister of Foreign Investment, Mr Tashkovich. More recently, a delegation of Macedonian companies came to Australia accompanied by the Macedonian secretary to the foreign minister, Jovica Palasevski. A reciprocal visit is now being planned to take Australian companies to Macedonia in September this year. The chamber of commerce is working hard to develop these productive bilateral trade relations and anticipates millions of dollars in growth over the next several years.

More recently, in representations to my office constituents have pointed to the Australian government’s recognition of the Republic of Kosovo as an independent state, which occurred in February this year. My constituents ask: what is the difference between recognising Kosovo and Macedonia? When Australia recognised Kosovo, it did so even though two members of the UN Security Council, Russia and China, disagreed, as did a number of EU members. It was put to me:

Australia has always been a fair country and treated everyone who came here from the former Yugoslavia equally.

Many of my constituents view the current situation as unfair and one that should be rectified as a matter of priority. It is fair to say that many Australians of Macedonian heritage hoped that a newly elected Rudd Labor government would provide due recognition to the Republic of Macedonia. On behalf of my constituents, I urge the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister to revisit the matter and take into account the strongly held views of the Macedonian community.