Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the most wonderful things about our multicultural society is that we have the opportunity to share in a number of cultural activities that are becoming fixtures on the broader Australian calendar and one of those is Holi. On the eve of Holi I would like to send my very best wishes to everyone for whom this is an extremely special occasion. It is an exciting occasion not only for Hindus but also for the wider community.

It was originally a celebration of the changing of the seasons and the transition from the cold of winter to the colour of spring; hence, one of the graphic associations of Holi is of course the throwing of coloured powder at one another, and generally singing and dancing. How wonderful it is that the Australian story is driven by so many different cultures of the world. This diversity is a tremendous value to our country. It builds our prosperity. It reinforces our ties with the subcontinent and with South Asia in particular.

I will be joining a lot of the festivities this weekend, including at North Parramatta and The Ponds in my electorate. I think it is wonderful that these festivals have devolved to a much more suburban level on many occasions so that we have local communities having a greater opportunity to be involved.

While I talk about celebrating diversity, I believe it is important to recognise a couple of disturbing trends that have become apparent in our society and what a minority are doing to attempt to undermine this spirit and the benefits of multiculturalism in this country. On 28 February The Sydney Morning Herald carried a headline 'Australian Sikhs say abuse on the rise as they cop Anti-Muslim sentiment'. Indeed, I was aware of this long before it became news in The Sydney Morning Herald.

There were stories of gurudwaras being attacked; members of the Australian Sikh Association approached me about rises in attacks and incidents on their members and within my own community. In my community, in the Blacktown local government area, Singh is the most common surname. I live down the road from the Sikh gurudwara. Most of my street is of Sikh origin.

This is extremely disturbing, and I think it should be placed on the record how unacceptable it is for people to think it is okay to treat fellow Australian citizens with such disregard. One of the quotes here in The Sydney Morning Herald is from a Mr Singh, who is the President of Turbans for Australia. Mr Singh's comments are greatly disturbing. He says that it has become 'pretty much an everyday thing' for Sikhs to have abuse hurled at them. He said they cop 'the brunt of anti-Islamic sentiment'; people confuse wearing the turban with being Muslim.

Sikhism is one of the fastest-growing populations in Australia and I want to commend the Australian Sikh Association and the Sikh community overall, for doing so much to open up their religion and their festivities—and their Gurudwaras through open days. Indeed, there will be an open day in Glenwood next month, and I look forward to attending that.

Sikhism has a great place in the history of Australia, as my colleague the member for Chifley will attest. Earlier this year I visited the gurudwara in Woolgoolga up near Coffs Harbour. Sikhism has a tremendous story not only through rural participation there around the Coffs Harbour region, but also comprising a large part of Western Sydney.

The other issue I want to mention—again, this is something I was aware of, long before it was reported—is the harassment of Muslim women being on the rise. There is a quote similar to the one I mentioned about some Sikhs thinking this was normal behaviour. It is in an article from 24 February, in The Age, about a young girl who had been abused for wearing a headscarf. Her mother said it was her son who told of the incident that happened to his sister. The article said:

When she asked her daughter about it the teenager said she had not mentioned it straight away because she "thought it was normal" to be singled out because of her headscarf.

This is notnormal! It is absolutely unacceptable.

The Migration Council of Australia today, in the Economic impact of migration, reflects that multiculturalism and migration itself is a positive thing for Australia. It is positive in an economic sense, it is positive in a community sense and such evidence based policy for migration, and supporting multiculturalism as a positive thing for Australia, should be welcomed. I commend Carla Wilshire and the Migration Council for their excellent report.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Greenway on her contribution—sentiments I echo completely.

Modern, efficient infrastructure is important and enables Australia—particularly the part of Australia that I represent—to reach full productivity and efficiency. The Abbott-Truss government has been committed to infrastructure; indeed, it has had a $50 billion infrastructure package. There are two programs I will speak about. One is the inland rail—the Melbourne to Brisbane rail line—which will traverse three states. It will link not only Melbourne and Brisbane but also Brisbane and Perth, and Adelaide and Darwin. It will be the missing link in a truly continental rail system.

Last year, Minister Truss appointed the former infrastructure minister in the Howard government, John Anderson, to head an implementation committee. I am pleased to say that I have been heavily involved in that process—as that committee has engaged with communities, freight companies, transport companies and local government throughout the corridor—in coming up with the initial report. I understand that report will be completed before too much longer and presented to the minister.

We are starting to see advertising for expressions of interest in initial works to be undertaken in parts of this corridor. Rail will only be part of this puzzle. We are seeing the emergence of heavy-mass vehicles and the importance of interconnectivity between the road and rail system. We are seeing good examples around the township of Parkes, where there is an intermodal transport hub set up. Trains leave Parkes and head to Perth on a regular basis—double-stack container trains that are now taking over 80 per cent of the freight between Sydney and Perth, on rail, whereas in other major freight routes the ratio is much less than that.

I was very pleased to have the Deputy Prime Minister in my electorate a couple of weeks ago. We met up with the New South Wales roads minister, Duncan Gay, the Deputy Premier and my local colleague at Dubbo, Troy Grant, to announce funding for roads, under the heavy vehicle and safety productivity round, and also for the Bridges Renewal program. These programs will enable an increase in the efficiency and safety with which we can deliver our freight task.

I can give you an example: the money that has gone towards the $1.146 million project in Gwydir Shire—my old shire, where I was formerly mayor, and where I can proudly say my brother is now the mayor. The upgrade of Mosquito Creek Road, which goes to a large quarry, is of benefit to not only the businesses that operate out of that quarry but the safety of the general community. Also, that quarry provides metal for road and rail for pretty well all of north-west New South Wales. The sealing of this road will enable road train access to this quarry. It will cut down the number of truck movements and reduce dust and other safety issues. That is just an example of where infrastructure spending improves not only productivity but also safety. So we are getting on with the job of rolling out infrastructure. It is the backbone that drives our nation.