Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to celebrate and honour local legend Phil Russo. Phil Russo is a name most locals in Parramatta would know. He's a passionate advocate for preserving Parramatta's unique and significant heritage, and he's been a parishioner at St Patrick's Cathedral for over 50 years. Phil was also a Parramatta city councillor and a deputy mayor, and he used his public office to support every community right across our local area. It was in this role that Phil delivered the first apology to the stolen generations in 1997, a full 11 years before Prime Minister Kevin Rudd did so in this House.

In a recent conversation I had with Phil, he told me why he decided to make the apology in his capacity as a local councillor. The decision, he told me, was driven in part by his values. Phil grew up in the 1930s and 1940s during a time when migrant families like his faced discrimination on a regular basis. At shops, in school and even at work, Phil saw the effects discrimination had on families firsthand. As a young man, Phil travelled in the merchant navy and sailed around the Pacific. He saw how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were treated differently. They were explicitly excluded, segregated and barred from so many of the opportunities afforded to non-Indigenous families. Phil even remembers a time when Indigenous Australians were only allowed to sit in the worst seats at the cinema. He remembers telling off the cinema owner for this when he was just a 17-year-old.

Phil also credits his decision to make the apology to the stolen generations to his experiences at the conference where the Bringing them home report was launched. Phil, then on council, went as part of a delegation to the national reconciliation conference. He described it as 'the most harrowing four days I had ever experienced'.

He told me that, on the last day, all the delegates expected then Prime Minister John Howard to make an apology to the Stolen Generations and, when he didn't, they were shocked. Phil was crushed personally. When he got back to Parramatta, he decided to make that apology himself. I quote Phil: 'I knew the Prime Minister wasn't going to apologise, so I did.'

In 2009, the then Liberal mayor of the Parramatta city council, Tony Issa, unveiled a plaque to commemorate this apology as a milestone in Parramatta's history. In 2013, Phil even received an Order of Australia medal for his advocacy and community service. I share Phil's story today not just to appreciate the many achievements of this local legend but to remind us of how proud we all feel when we look back on the actions and times that moved Australia forward. (Time expired)