Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know. I only found out recently it is not true, so it is a bit sad. But they are exceptional people. They are people of great resilience who have arrived in this country with appalling stories in their lives who have knuckled down to build a life here with such incredible commitment. They are people who give back to their own community in the most extraordinary ways. A young man I know who arrived at 18 with four younger brothers and sisters put himself through law school and his four younger brothers and sisters through high school and university. All that time, from the first year, he set up community organisations to work with other youth, as if he did not have enough of his own to do. Right from the beginning, he had this incredible commitment to making life work in this new country. These are extraordinary people from both South Sudan and Sudan—people that a country should be proud of; people capable of building great countries if they have peace; people capable of making real contributions not only to their own country but to the world. For this reason as well, we really should argue very, very strongly as a government for an end to this conflict.

The member for Greenway has talked about some of the dreadful things that have happened there and the International Criminal Court issuing a warrant for the arrest of Sudan's President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. I agree also with the member for Greenway that people who are guilty of such crimes should not find refuge anywhere. They should not find refuge when they cross a border. They should not find refuge anywhere, nor should anybody who perpetrates the kind of crimes that have been perpetrated against the Sudanese people, both north and south, or the people who perpetuate the violence that has led to, essentially, the destruction of a nation and the displacement of a people.

We are incredibly lucky to have people of this calibre in this nation. Again, as I said earlier, some of the most extraordinary people I have met have come from that part of the world, and I know they will make extraordinary contributions here. But I look forward to the Sudanese people being able to make those extraordinary contributions in their homeland.

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