Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like many electorates, Werriwa in south-west Sydney is an amalgam of every nation, religion and culture. I would argue that it is this diversity that makes the place I call home so special. It really has been this way in Australia since the First Fleet. Since 1788, wave after wave of immigrants have made their way to these shores, establishing themselves and their families and making their way ahead. My attendance at thousands of civic events over the last 20 years, both as a councillor and as a local MP, has demonstrated that no two journeys to these shores are the same. Some people leave their home under the most difficult of circumstances, with the scars of war, displacement or natural disaster, and they leave their home with nothing more than a handful of possessions, if that. Others have a more orderly and planned migration to Australia. They've planned their arrival for years, have established contacts and have an education pathway, a job and a house to go to. And then there are those that are somewhere in the middle.

Regardless of how people arrive in this country, they all come with the same hope—for a better future for themselves and for their children. They know that Australia is a genuine land of opportunity where democracy flourishes and where hard work and ambition are rewarded. They know it's a safe place to raise their children. And this promise, this hope, has been available to all, to the exclusion of none. That was until the opposition leader's budget reply speech.

In the budget reply speech, the proposed policy was laid out and indicated that only citizens should receive government support, excluding permanent residents. Let's be clear. Permanent residents pay taxes. They're here legally. They contribute. They have families. They fill vital roles which make our nation more prosperous, more complete, and they add to our community, not detract from it. In the defence of this policy, the opposition leader said, 'When you commit to this country, we'll commit to you.' It's clear from this statement that the Leader of the Opposition has not met a single permanent resident that lives in my community. If he had, he would know they are committed to this country. But, more than that, they're committed to growing and improving the communities in which they live. They are working towards citizenship. I cannot imagine my electorate without the thousands of immigrants, many of whom are permanent residents, who each in their own way make a unique contribution. Permanent residents are choosing our values and our democracy and our way of life by coming to Australia and working so hard. They are the healthcare workers. They are the aged-care workers. They're the childcare workers. Seventy-one per cent of the workers in the care economy in Werriwa speak a language other than English at home. They are also the doctors in our communities and in our hospitals. These can't be the people that should not migrate here. They are the small-business owners, the entrepreneurs, the tradies that we need to build our houses. And they are the restaurant owners. Surely, these people cannot be the people that are being referred to in this policy direction.

I've also attended hundreds of citizenship ceremonies in my time in public life. Each is special. My attendance at these ceremonies also shows me that, while there are no two identical journeys of migration, there are also no identical journeys to citizenship. Regardless, all have to wait a time, paying their taxes, while they meet the citizenship residency requirements. I wish I had a dollar for every permanent resident who has approached my office to expedite their actual citizenship ceremony at Liverpool City Council, which has been inexplicably delayed. Our nation and my community rely on people coming to Australia to work, raise families and become Australians. This nation's success is at least in part because of the people that have come from over the seas to make their homes here, because of migration, including permanent residents. To treat them as second-class, as the leader of the opposition has suggested, is nothing short of disgraceful.

House adjourned at 19:59