Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Communications) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the National Party: we'll be supporting this motion, and we'd like to recognise the contribution of successive waves of immigrants and their families—the contribution they have made to building a very strong and resilient regional Australia and to building our industries. Think of the Italian community along the Murray, and its involvement in horticulture and wine making; there are the Yazidis, the Sikhs, the Karen in Nhill—I could go on and on, on the strong contribution that a diverse immigrant population has made by coming here, coming to the regions and working incredibly hard, shoulder to shoulder with our communities in regional Australia, to build a strong, diverse and open community.

I think it's a great privilege to be here today to see Senator Wong and Senator Cormann, both from migrant backgrounds, together, standing as one and championing not just what is great about our nation, at this point in our history, but also what is great about this place. This is the Senate working at its best and it is senators working at their best in the contributions they've made today, and I really look forward to voting for the motion.