Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to congratulate the Bayram Turkish Cultural Association, where I had the honour of attending their annual Anatolian festival on Saturday. Reid is home to an amazing Turkish community—it has been for over 40 years—and also home quite aptly to the Gallipoli mosque, which is the biggest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere. It is apt when you consider what we are about to experience within the next 12 months. It is amazing that two countries whose original ties were forged on the battlefield, almost 100 years later, have become so close.

In Reid we have an amazing community. Ataturk is often best known for the words that are inscribed on the shores of Gallipoli but one thing that is not known is that he was not only the founder of modern Turkey but he understood the importance of youth. One of the things he did in 1922 was set up children's day. He was smart enough to know that those children would be the foundation and the future of his country.

I do not think even he had the foresight to see where we are today. Those children have moved to Australia some 100 years later, have called it home and make a wonderful contribution day in, day out, raising their families. They are great Australian citizens, and I am honoured to be their member of federal parliament and have them live in Reid.

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