Pat Farmer (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to speak briefly about a study tour that I took during the Christmas break. I took this study tour because I was inspired here, at a prayer breakfast, by a woman who came along and spoke about poverty in Egypt. As many people in this House know, I have travelled the length and breadth of this country on foot and I have seen some of the poverty in some of the outback areas of Australia but, I have to tell you, I have seen nothing like the things I saw in the tips there in Egypt. I would just, in this brief moment, like to say a few things about that, let alone the poverty in Peru and Nepal.

I travelled to the rubbish tips with a lady that goes by the name of Mama Maggie. We wandered into a house with 10 children and the mother living there. The place is two metres by two metres, a tin shanty. I walked in, and in this room there was a bed, some cardboard boxes against the wall which had all their worldly possessions, and an LP gas bottle which they use for cooking. Many of the kids in Cairo suffer from burns as a result of bumping the cooker during the night, because they have no water and no electricity. I stepped outside and saw a plastic bowl covered in rats, and that bowl had the water in it that they use for drinking, washing themselves and mixing into some sort of porridge that they share and eat for the week. I scrubbed the kids’ feet along with Mama Maggie. We scrubbed their feet and their hands. I cleaned and dressed some of their sores. She then read them a passage from the Bible and we provided each of the kids, after washing their faces as well, with a pair of plastic shoes and a little parcel of food the size of two hands that was going to feed this family for the next two weeks.

The reason why I speak about this and why I continue to speak about my adventures during the Christmas break is that I want to inspire other members in this place, when they have the opportunity to travel overseas, to not just meet with the dignitaries in those countries but also travel to some of the poverty stricken places and do some firsthand work with some of the NGOs, whether it be the medical organisations, the Red Cross, Rotary et cetera or some of the religious organisations. See the poverty firsthand and get involved. Do some building, do some reading in the schools or help out in the hospitals. See these things firsthand. I think people can come to this place and lobby us as much as they like, but when you have smelt the smells of these places and worked with the people in these places and seen it firsthand, it really does affect the way that you think about things. I cannot help but think that I make a much better politician for having had that experience, and I encourage all of my colleagues to do exactly the same and, when they get these opportunities to travel overseas, to do that. Don’t just take notes but also get heavily involved and have some hands-on experience.