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

The electorate of Lalor is a diverse and growing community in the outer-west of Melbourne, I was born and raised in Werribee. The privilege I have of standing here and representing my community is something that I do not take for granted. From my maiden speech to this moment, I have always been a proud advocate for my community. The electorate of Lalor is a place of opportunity. It is a place where people from all over the world have come to, and continue to, call home. Our community is a growing one. Houses are built every day. The city of Wyndham is the heart of the electorate and has seen sustained and dramatic population growth for over 40 years. We have a long history of turning housing estates into vibrant communities. As I said in my maiden speech, Lalor is a place where we all come together to create a unique mixture of culture and language, where traditions are accepted, created and cherished. There are over 60,000 families in this electorate and over 230,000 residents. It is one of the youngest electorates in the country, with incredibly high numbers of teenagers. It is one of the fastest-growing regions in this country.

Nothing frustrates me more than to hear people trashing the community I love, the place I was born and raised, the place I worked for 25 years in education, the place where I raised my family and the place that I'm very proud to represent. Over the summer, the headlines about my community were deeply frustrating and disappointing. My community was shown in a poor light. As a proud advocate, I was deeply saddened and, like the community itself, frustrated and angered. I was angered by some local young people who were breaking the law and behaving appallingly. I was frustrated by other locals demanding responses and believing that social media and mainstream media would provide them.

Some of the people I was frustrated with and angry at are members of this place. One was the Prime Minister and another a federal minister from Queensland. Neither offered solutions but felt free to denigrate our community for political purposes. Both of these so-called leaders are responsible for funding cuts to youth programs, schools and higher education. Both are members of a government that has no policies to assist areas of population growth like ours. It is very easy to throw stones from across the border. It is easy to make accusations and throw around petty slogans for political gain, but it takes courage to offer solutions—something that I will fight for in this place because I believe in my community. The Wyndham spirit lives in me and I am a proud advocate for it.

To those throwing stones, I simply say this: you can seek to make a contribution by offering solutions or you can seek to divide. It is obvious that those opposite have no intention of assisting in solving the issues we're facing. To the young people, those who I have heard by day can be model students and model daughters and sons and those others who are disengaged and disenfranchised and who, in football terms, from either group, suffer a catastrophic brain fade and choose to become involved in violent crime, I say: 'Stop! You are damaging yourselves, your families, your immediate community and the community more broadly.' As I've always said to various young people from newly arrived communities across decades, you carry with you the reputation of not only yourself and your family but also your culture and even your faith. It may seem unfair and a heavy burden, but the quality of your life and the life of your family is on your shoulders. The actions and decisions that you make directly impact on those around you. I urge you to seek other first generation Australians from decades past and speak to them about their experiences and speak to them about how they, as proud Australians, live now in Australia. Ask them about the burden they carried and how they handled it.

I know that the buck doesn't stop with these young people. It takes a village to raise the young, and all our young people need guidance and support. I'd like to thank Father Chris Riley and the Youth Off The Streets team who came down from across the border—there are some New South Welshmen who have empathy—and set up in my community across the summer to be of assistance and to conduct youth outreach.

Our community has been tested like this before. We have a long history, and in those times the hard work of our community has shone through. In our sporting clubs, our schools and our work places, we have a history of overcoming these issues when the right support is put in place. But when the federal government cuts funding from vital services, our community takes a hit. This issue has highlighted for me what this government has cut, and we are seeing, to some extent, the effects of this in the news headlines. To make matters worse, the government has outlined in MYEFO that $1.3 billion will be cut from settlement services over a four-year period. Newly arrived migrants will be forced to wait three years instead of two for certain services. We are going to see issues compound, not just in my community but in others across the country, as a result of the decisions by those opposite. I am not justifying the actions of the young people in the community who are breaking the law, nor am I excusing it. But the federal government is throwing stones for cheap political gain with one hand and cutting funding from services with the other. In doing so, they are short-changing my community. They are short-changing our capacity to build social capital.

In terms of community safety in Wyndham, there are genuine concerns held by members of the community. I've received emails and letters from constituents letting me know that they no longer feel safe in the community. This is deeply saddening. I want my community to be one that is accepting and safe for all, and I must highlight some of these facts. Contrary to some of the media reports, Victoria's youth crime rates have been on the decline. In the last quarter of 2017 there was, in fact, an overall drop in crime. Specifically in Wyndham, there was a 10.9 per cent reduction in total crime, with crime decreasing in every suburb of Wyndham. But this reduction in crime doesn't happen with cheap political slurs; it happens when we work together as a community. It happens from the grassroots through to the federal government. It happens when we embrace our neighbourhood and community by saying hello to our neighbours. It starts by waving in the driveway, introducing yourself, finding out the names of the people living in your street.

I worked with young people for 27 years. Anonymity is their friend. You need to know their names. All in our community can assist in this. If you run a business or work locally, it will help if you contact your local school and volunteer to take a year 10 student on work experience, a VCAL student for a work placement or, even better, employ a local young person or their parent. If you're involved in a local sporting group or community group, invite the neighbours to get involved. That's how we form communities, and we are well practised at it. Instead of embracing the values of community, mudslinging by those opposite during the summer break has created genuine fear for people living on their own. It has also created fear in the South Sudanese community that they are going to have to face racism as they go about their life in our community. I know what happens when licence for racism is granted at kitchen tables and online platforms. Last week, as kids went back to school, many went back with a licence to be racist in the playground. This makes the job harder for our schools. As a former teacher and principal, I've seen it happen, and the Prime Minister, on the shores of Sydney, and the member for Dickson, when he joined in on Sydney radio at the start of the new year, gave licence for this to occur.

I stand here now as the proud member for Lalor in this parliament and reject the Prime Minister's providing this licence with one hand and throwing stones with the other. I also reject those members opposite from Victoria who, throughout 2017, began this chorus. They began this political campaign against my community and communities like mine for political gain. I reject and condemn them in the strongest terms. Lalor is home to a proud community, and I'm a proud member of it. I know the challenges we face and I will be there to assist in healing the wounds, to work with those serious about changing the behaviours and building resilient and strong communities and to put the dual genies of youth crime and racism back where they belong.