Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the Caboolture-Bribie Island Road upgrade, I'd like to put on the record my thanks to everyone in the relevant Queensland LNP government ministry who advocated for this upgrade and everyone in the department who delivered it. I'd also like to thank my good friends Terry Young MP and Ariana Doolan MP. Terry Young, the member for Longman, is continually fighting for his electorate to make sure it gets the infrastructure it needs as one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. Ariana Doolan, the member for Pumicestone, is one of the youngest MPs ever to be elected to the Queensland parliament, and I also acknowledge and recognise her contribution to making sure her community on Bribie Island gets that infrastructure that it deserves.

It was wonderful to see this week that members of the Iranian women's football team secured humanitarian visas to stay in Australia. There were five players in the initial cohort who received humanitarian visas. Subsequently, over the course of the last 24 to 36 hours, an additional player and a support member secured humanitarian visas to stay in Australia at this very difficult time for them and their families. I think all of us were moved by seeing the proceedings of the football game, where the Iranian women's football team refused to sing the Iranian national anthem, given what is happening in Iran at the moment, and we were all horrified to see the response of the current Iranian regime to their silent protest in that regard.

It is a wonderful thing that these players and the support team member have managed to secure humanitarian visas. I'd like to acknowledge government members; the minister; the opposition spokesperson for home affairs, Senator Jonno Duniam; and all of their teams in terms of how they progressed the matter. I note that the minister also acknowledged that the media had been extremely responsible in terms of its reporting. I'd like to acknowledge the staff of the Department of Home Affairs who, no doubt, worked tirelessly on this matter. I'd also like to acknowledge the Australian Federal Police, who collectively made sure that every single one of those team members and everyone who was part of the network supporting that team had the opportunity, in private, to express what their wishes were in terms of their options to seek humanitarian visas in this country.

I'd also like to acknowledge the Iranian Australian diaspora, who have been absolutely tireless in terms of advocating for human rights, for freedom, for democracy and for the rights of women and girls in Iran while also providing support to the Iranian women's football team. This is a wonderful result for those members of the team who secured humanitarian visas to stay in Australia.

This event also coincided with an event last night convened by Parliamentary Friends of Refugees, of which I am a co-chair along with my fellow co-chairs: Sarah Witty MP, Allegra Spender MP and Senator David Shoebridge. It was the first meeting of the Parliamentary Friends of Refugees to be convened during the course of this parliament. I'd like to acknowledge the role of the Refugee Council of Australia, which assisted to bring this event about. It's important to note that last year Australia welcomed its one millionth refugee since 1947. One million people from all over the world who were suffering political persecution have found safety and an opportunity to build their lives in Australia, whatever their cultural background and whatever their religion. It's an opportunity to reflect on our refugee program and its success over so many decades.

I reflect on the groups I have met all over the country during the last 12 months, including the wonderful Australian Vietnamese Women's Association, which was founded in 1983. Last year was the 50th anniversary of the arrival of humanitarian visa recipients from Vietnam in Australia. We think of the wonderful contribution made by our Vietnamese community. The Australian Vietnamese Women's Association was established in 1983, when 15 women got together with Mrs Cam Nguyen and decided they wanted to give back to the community. Since that point in time, this organisation has gone from strength to strength in terms of providing support to community members all across Melbourne.

I also reflect on the visit I had to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne, a centre that provides food, housing, English skills, pathways to employment, and legal support for those seeking asylum in Australia. I want to acknowledge the contribution of Kon, the CEO and founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, as well as Jana and Ogy and everyone involved, and all the volunteers supporting asylum seekers in Melbourne.

In the course of that trip, I visited Dandenong, and the contribution the Hazara Australian community has made to the reinvigoration of Dandenong is just inspiring. I ate at a wonderful Hazara restaurant, and I was speaking to the owner about how long ago he'd opened the restaurant, and he said it was a number of years, under 10 years, but he also had five other businesses in the main street of Dandenong—just an incredible contribution.

Then I reflect on my home community of Queensland. A few weeks ago I attended the opening of the Matu Community hub in Logan. Under the leadership of Lawm and Muan and their team, they're doing outstanding work providing support to members of the Chin community who have come from Myanmar, fleeing political persecution and violence and establishing new lives here in Australia. But they've also established a relationship with the community from Eritrea who came here as refugees. Where else in the world would you see this alignment between community members who have come from Burma as refugees, and community members who came from Eritrea as refugees?

Last night, we heard from some outstanding advocates for refugee communities in this country. We met and heard from Mr Roman Abasy, who was a taekwondo champion, from Afghanistan. He and his family came to Australia, as did thousands of Afghanis, following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021. He was an advocate for human rights, especially for women and girls, in Afghanistan, which is why he had to flee Afghanistan. He's now rebuilding his life here in Australia. He has even opened up his own taekwondo school, which I'm sure provides first-class education to young people.

We also heard from a wonderful woman by the name of Abang Othow, from South Sudan, who came to Australia as an unaccompanied minor under our refugee program. She is now an educator, a speaker, a writer, a leader and the founder of her wellbeing framework, referred to as Buckets of Hope. She provides inspiring leadership all over Australia, including in my home state of Queensland. As a sign of respect to her and her contribution, I want to talk about her father—because every one of these one million refugees who have come to Australia has their own story.

Abang's father was an amazing individual called Professor Anade Othow. He was known as Paul. He was a visionary scholar, public servant and courageous advocate for the people of Sudan. He was one of the first members of his community to receive higher education, and he actually secured a position and served his country in government as minister of the interior, where he advocated for unity, justice and the protection of minority groups, including women and children. Professor Anade's commitment to equality and human rights, though, came at a great personal cost. In 1996 his courage ultimately cost him his life when he was brutally assassinated for standing by his principles. That happened in South Sudan, and now his daughter has found safety and prosperity here in Australia and is contributing to our community. It is just one of the many, many stories of those one million refugees who found a home here in Australia.