Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration) Share this | Hansard source

I was delighted on Friday 29 August 2025 to attend the Multicultural Queensland Awards night, attended by the Hon. Fiona Simpson MP, the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, and many representatives from Queensland's wonderful multicultural communities. I'd like to congratulate the winners from the evening. The Minister's Multicultural Award was awarded to Mr Emil Rahimov. I have known Emil for many years. He's helped so many people in Queensland's wonderful multicultural communities. So I congratulate him. The Multicultural Sector Outstanding Achiever was Raewyn Burton, the Diversity and Inclusion Champion was Lolla Ingadottir, and the Lifetime Achiever was Irene Bayldon, whom I've known for many years. Irene has volunteered for 40 years, helping multicultural communities across Queensland. Thank you so much, Irene, especially for everything you do on radio 4EB.

One person who I would like to mention as well is the winner of the outstanding contribution by a new Queenslander, Ben Maiyo. Ben comes from Kenya, and he gave a very moving speech on the night. I'd like to quote from Ben's speech because I thought it was outstanding. Ben and the Kenyan community should be so proud of his speech. He said:

This award is not just mine. It belongs to every New Queenslander who, regardless of how they arrived, is contributing in quiet but powerful ways. It is a proof that when migrants are given opportunities, and not judged by where they come from, but embraced for what they bring, they become an asset to Queensland.

I couldn't have said it better, Ben. Congratulations to ECCQ for giving you an opportunity. I know that you're proving your worth in your new position.

I also offer congratulations to the winner of the multicultural sector outstanding achiever award, the Maisha Bora Program, and the diversity inclusion champion, John Holland. I was so impressed with what John Holland is doing in terms of giving opportunities to new Australians, including people with refugee backgrounds, on their infrastructure sites. Well done, John Holland. Congratulations to everyone as well as the highly commended recipients. It was a wonderful night that represented the very best of Australian values.

On 10 August 2025, I was absolutely delighted to attend a PNG cultural day, convened by the UQ PNG Students' Association, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea—the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The 50th anniversary of its independence falls on 16 September this year. I was actually in PNG working as a lawyer when the 25th anniversary of PNG's independence came about, so this is a very moving year for me. I found it very difficult to leave Papua New Guinea after my time there came to an end. That's a comment on the wonderful people of Papua New Guinea. So this is a very significant occasion.

I want to congratulate all the members of the University of Queensland PNG Students' Association. I want to compliment Rotary Toowong for all the wonderful work it does in PNG and for supporting the celebrations, and I want to congratulate all of the wonderful performers, who gave us such a rich kaleidoscope of the different cultures across that amazingly diverse country called Papua New Guinea, which has so many of the world 's languages. One quarter of the world's languages are actually in PNG. That is quite extraordinary. The performances were absolutely fantastic. I say to the students at the University of Queensland from PNG that you are our future one top bridge—the bridge between Australia and Papua New Guinea, and the work you do in decades to come will make such a valuable contribution. And I would like to say to all Queenslanders to please make sure you are at Bill Norris Oval at Beenleigh on Saturday 13 September 2025, when PNG Federation Queensland Incorporated will have its Independence Day celebrations. Happy Independence Day, Papua New Guinea.

I was very moved this week to attend the Jina Amini annual commemoration day, convened by our wonderful Kurdish community. This gathering honoured Jina Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman whose death in custody at the hands of Iran's so-called morality police on 16 September 2022 sparked the global Women, Life, Freedom movement. Representatives of the Australian Kurdish community from all over Australia came together to give their perspectives and provide a call to action.

They asked for humanitarian visa pathways to be created for families at risk. They asked for—indeed, it was actually quite significant and a positive thing that, having asked for many years for the IRGC to be declared a terrorist organisation, we can now acknowledge that after so many years of advocacy it will now occur. I was delighted that we could acknowledge that positive milestone. They called for the strengthening of measures against foreign interference—and we know how the Iranian regime has interfered in Australia and has sought to threaten people in our Iranian diaspora, including the Kurdish community—and they called upon Australia to utilise international channels to address Iran's global threats and understand how the regime's actions undermine international security and human rights.

Acting Deputy President Sharma, as someone who I know thinks deeply about these issues as you do, especially with your experience—and I've listened very carefully to your passionate advocacy in this place since you entered this chamber—I know that you understand the issues of concern to our wonderful Australian Kurdish community.

There were many moving speeches given on the day by members of the community, and I want to read from the speech by a wonderful woman who gave such a moving speech at the celebration. She said: 'The journey to reach Australian soil was an escape from oppression, a chance to breathe freely for the first time. Each of us carries a story of persecution and forced silence. If you look around this room, every person here today fled oppression. And do you know what their crimes were? Their identity. My uncle was publicly hanged at 21 for no crime other than his identity. My father was imprisoned and tortured for no crime other than his identity. As a Kurdish Australian woman here in Australia I've been stalked, I've been followed, I've been threatened and I've been forced into silence by the regime's affiliates. And my crime? My identity.'

I thank all attendees so much for the contribution you made at this commemoration of the death of Jina Amini, and I thank you for your advocacy. Our Kurdish Australian community is a great blessing for our beautiful country.

I am delighted to take this opportunity to speak in honour of my dear, dear friend Sergeant Jim Bellos OAM, APM, who has retired after 34 years of service in the Queensland Police Service. At his retirement farewell, the Premier of Queensland, David Crisafulli, was in attendance, as was the Lord Mayor of Brisbane and so many members of our wonderful multicultural communities, to respect and honour the contribution made by Jim Bellos to the people of Queensland and, in particular, his work in strengthening the bonds between the Queensland Police Service and our multicultural communities.

I first met Jim Bellos in 2014, five years before I entered this place. When the Indonesian Muslim prayer centre in Rocklea, Brisbane, was the subject of a vile graffiti attack, they called a get-together of neighbours in the region to come together to support the prayer centre. I was pleased to attend, and that's where I first met Jim Bellos. I saw the connection he had with that community—that community that was under attack, whose place of worship had been attacked. Jim Bellos was there, standing shoulder to shoulder with the community.

I saw him on the sports field, bringing young people together by playing football, and I saw the positive impact of his mentoring. That has left such a legacy with me in terms of the work that I do with our multicultural communities, providing as much support as I can to grassroots organisations using sport and cultural activities to help young people in those communities. I also know that Jim Bellos has had such an amazing impact on so many young lives in terms of his mentoring, his guidance, his compassion and his love. So I say this: thank you, Jim Bellos, to you and your family, for the service which you have provided to the people of Queensland. Thank you, thank you, thank you.