Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by my colleague the member for Casey and I congratulate him for putting forward such an important motion on such a powerful issue. The story of Malala Yousafzai is an inspiring one. It is the story of a young woman wise beyond her years and possessing a grasp of the way things in her homeland should be, not just how they are. It is the story of a young woman's steady determination to stand up and make a difference, to stand up for what is right and to stare down evil. At just 11 years of age, Malala was reported to have said in a speech to local journalists: 'How dare the Taliban take away my right to basic education?' This was after a Taliban edict banning education for girls as they sought to impose their austere interpretation of sharia law and as they went about destroying over 150 schools in the region.

Malala caught the Taliban's attention in 2009 when she began writing a blog for the BBC about her life growing up in Pakistan's Swat Valley. That led the New York Times to release a documentary about Malala and she became a sought-after international spokesperson for her struggles against the Taliban's sadistic mediaeval rule. Despite threats from the Taliban, Malala rarely showed fear and she did not hide her face. She said in an interview in 2011: 'I have the right to an education, I have the right to play, I have the right to sing, I have the right to talk, I have the right to go to a market and I have the right to speak up.' A reporter then asked her, 'Why do you risk your life to raise your voice?' And she answered: 'I shall raise my voice. If I didn't do it, who would?'

The Taliban reacted in the way they often do when faced with the forces of freedom of speech. They sent their assassins to murder the 15-year-old girl. On 9 October last year two Taliban gunmen walked onto her school bus, asked for her by name and, from point-blank range, fired two bullets into her head and neck. But they were not able to kill her. And, as often happens with acts of evil, it had the exact opposite effect: they turned her into an even bigger international heroine. They created worldwide publicity for her cause and they captured global attention for the struggle for women's rights in Pakistan. In their failure they sent a timely reminder to the world of the sick and perverted thinking and barbaric evil ways of Taliban extremists. They are little more than cowardly savages.

Several weeks after Malala was struck in the head and neck by the bullets she was airlifted to the UK where, after months of surgery, just a few days ago the 15-year-old walked down the hall of the British hospital under her own power and gave a videotaped interview. Despite being the victim of such a horrific attack, this passionate young woman has not altered her views. She said after recovering, 'I want every girl, every child, to be educated,' in direct defiance of the criminals that have vowed to kill her.

Young Malala's story is remarkable in so many ways. She has rallied the world in a fight to educate young girls, but her greatest gift has been to demonstrate to the world, including the Pakistani people, that it is possible to stand up to the Taliban. Her courage is infectious. But perhaps her greatest gift is to remind the world that our freedoms must be fought for and protected and that we should not cower in the darkness when faced with evil. She reminds us, as that old quotation goes, that all that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing. And, as her case shows, those 'good men' even include 15-year-old schoolgirls. She is a hero in every sense of the word. There could not be a more worthy nominee of the Nobel Peace Prize not to win.

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