Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2115 ..

MS REILLY (5.11): I rise to speak in support of the motion, Mr Speaker. I think that, as Australians, we can be proud of our record in supporting refugees - both refugees that have come to Australia, particularly since the Second World War, as Mr Kaine has discussed, and also refugees who are still living overseas. I think we should recognise the valuable contribution that those people who have come to Australia have made to the Australian community and the additions they have made to the richness of Australia's life. It is very important to acknowledge their contribution to our cultural lives, through the arts and architecture, and to the intellectual life of Australia.

I did not have the advantage of living through the 1930s and 1940s in Australia; but, if you read any history of Australia you will realise that there was a certain blandness and dullness in Australia at that time, as we xenophobically kept a lot of people out of the country. I think it has been to the advantage of all of us to be part of the wave of both immigration and the taking in of refugees that has occurred since the Second World War. I grew up in Queensland in the 1950s, and I remember that there were still a number of camps where refugees were living, waiting for allocation of proper housing. I think we can be proud of what we have done to assist those people to become part of the Australian community.

We also need to recognise and acknowledge how fortunate we are to live in a country like Australia. Being an island continent, we have been lucky not to have been invaded. Since the invasion of 1788, there has been no further invasion of Australia. It is very hard to comprehend what it is like living in other countries of the world and what people's lives are like, when there have been wars going on for years, when there have been famines going on for years, and when there has been no opportunity to settle, to have any sort of stability in their lives, or to pursue the practices that they want to. Australia is lucky. We have political freedom. We have freedom of speech. We have the opportunity to vote. We have the opportunity to participate in democratic practices such as in this Assembly. Even question time is an opportunity for people to speak out. We also have the opportunity in Australia to exercise religious freedom - to follow the religion we like - and to lead, for the most part, the lifestyles that we want to.

I think, as a nation, we have welcomed these refugees and we have recognised our responsibilities in this field to ensure that these people are maintained and helped to work here. We also need to recognise the assistance that we give refugees within their own countries or the places where they have been forced to live. It is a very important part of Australia's responsibility to the world that we do not just provide assistance to people when they arrive in Australia, but that we provide a lot of assistance to people who are continuing to live within their own countries or within their own communities. One of the things that I think we should be proud of is our overseas aid program.

We need to continue to bring this to the attention of the Federal Government and remind it of its responsibilities, both within Australia and within the world, to continue that overseas aid and not to make the cuts that have been discussed. If we stop providing assistance to people overseas, the refugees will be the ones who suffer. We may not notice any loss of services or any changes in Australia; but the people who are assisted through those programs will notice the change. For amazingly small sums of money, a lot of people can be assisted. It is not only the fact that it is assisting the refugees; we also benefit through the assistance we provide overseas. Really, when you look at it,

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .