Page 429 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 13 May 1992
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promote the interests of members of the West Belconnen Rugby League Club and, indeed, junior sport in Belconnen. It is for that reason that I believe that this a matter all members of the Assembly on a tripartisan basis should support. I would encourage my colleagues from the Labor Party, our colleagues from the Liberal Party and the Independents to attend the function on Tuesday, 26 May. I will confirm, prior to the end of next week, that that is the date. Give generously for this very worthwhile fundraising event.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
MRS GRASSBY (4.31): Madam Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf of some members of our community who called to see me last week to protest at the conditions their families and friends are suffering back in the land they came from - Bosnia-Herzegovina. With them came members of the Australian Croatian community to support them. They told me some horrific tales of what was happening to their communities back there.
We all know that in wars everybody suffers, no matter who starts them or who is fighting. Although our Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade had recognised their community, they felt that we should in some way be looking to the UN to put troops into the area to stop the fighting completely. They were not saying that their people were not also killing, but they said that it was to keep the area they had for their community. They did not mind what religious group lived in their community, as long as they lived in peace. We all know that Yugoslavia has suffered very much from wars because there are so many groups living there.
I felt very sorry for this community. I feel sorry for any community living here whose homeland is suffering wars and who do not know whether their families are alive or dead, whether they be Croatians, Bosnia-Herzegovinians, Serbs, or whatever. We should feel sorry for these people, and I intend to get an appointment with the Minister for Foreign Affairs to enable these people to put their case.
I think we, as a group, could write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. We are sending UN troops to many parts of the world to try to keep the peace. Maybe we should be looking at that in regard to Bosnia-Herzegovina. We all know that the Croatian community is 10,000 strong. I do not mean that we should support them only because they are 10,000 strong; we should be supporting all members of our community, no matter where they have come from, to ensure that they, their families and their friends can live in peace.
I ask members of the Assembly to support these people by asking our Federal Government to push the UN to recognise these countries that have broken apart and intend to become their own masters. We should be looking at ways of using UN troops to bring peace in these countries - not to fight wars, not to kill people, but to bring peace, as we have done very successfully in Cyprus and other places around the world. I am quite sure that we could do this in what was known as Yugoslavia, which has been split up into many countries who wish to govern themselves in peace in the future but who will need help from us.
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