Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the recent Refugee Week celebrations held in my electorate and I remind the House that I have the honour of representing the most multicultural electorate in the country. Hundreds of people gathered in local schools and other locations, such as Macquarie Street Mall in Liverpool and the Freedom Plaza in Cabramatta, as well as the Bonnie community centre, to celebrate Refugee Week. There were photo exhibitions and cultural performances from the South-East Asian, Chinese, Russian, Middle Eastern, Latin American and African communities.

This annual event recognises the enormous contribution made by the 750,000 refugees who have adopted Australia as their homeland. They have chosen to raise their families here, and their young people are our future doctors, tradespeople, volunteers, defence personnel and many more. I thank them for sharing their heritage, culture, religious festivals and language and for helping us to celebrate Australia's diversity.

One such person is Lina Tjoeng, the president of Khmer Community of New South Wales. Lina fled Cambodia under the Pol Pot regime more than 30 years ago and now serves our community as an interpreter, translator, social worker, solicitor and community leader. I thank her and the Khmer community for what they have achieved in the south-west of Sydney. Another is Mohammed Omar, a teacher at Cabramatta High School, who recently received a humanitarian award for mentoring young refugees. He fled war-torn Somalia when he was only eight years of age.

Lurnea High School celebrated Refugee Week with students involved in storytelling presentations. One student spoke about arriving in Australia after living in a refugee camp in Syria, but sadly is still waiting for their father to join them. A student at Liverpool Boys High School escaped war-torn Congo. He spent five years in a refugee camp in Kenya before arriving in Australia. Like many other refugee children he excels in his education, taking advantage of what we in this country have to offer.

A week ago I met with members of one of the newest community organisations in my electorate: the Australian Ethiopian Community Association. As a member of parliament I have the pleasure of supporting and assisting the great work that many of these community organisations do. I look forward to working closely with them into the future. I thank Solomon Tesfay for the work he is doing on behalf of his community. I also mention the great work that is being done by the Liverpool Migrant Resource Centre and the Fairfield Migrant Resource Centre. I praise the efforts of Kamalle Dabboussy and Ricci Bartels. They certainly do understand the need to help resettle people, including refugees, and the trauma associated with these people's migration to Australia. (Time expired)

See this speech in context