Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Reid for his question and his comments and I commend him for the work he has been doing in his electorate of Reid, particularly in areas such as Auburn and Lakemba, where we have been together regularly with our good friends that you have just referred to, particularly Samier Dandan and Jamal Rifi, who are close friends. And I would add to that Jihad Dib. I commend Jihad Dib for his election to the New South Wales state parliament. I met Jihad through the member for Blaxland some years ago on the Kokoda Track. I think it is wonderful to see someone of Jihad's character and strength and experience in the parliament, serving alongside you as the federal member in that area.

It is important that you reach across the political divides to deal with these difficult issues at the community level. There are many great opportunities, and particularly in this area. I moved from a previous portfolio, looking at these issues from the national security and border protection perspective, and now have the opportunity in this portfolio to get to some of the root issues we have to deal with in countering the predatory behaviour of Daesh.

As you would know, we all have some hard days in this job and we have some very emotional days in this job. One of the most emotional days I have had in this job was going along with Jamal Rifi to see a family—a mother, father and their younger daughter. Four of their sons disappeared, got on the plane and went to Syria. It was a surreal experience. They were expecting these four young men to walk back through the door at any moment. They lost four sons in one day, and I doubt they are ever coming back—for whatever reason.

This starts at a place where it can be stopped. The measures in this budget specifically address these types of issues not specifically in relation to Daesh but more generally in terms of vulnerabilities that we know exist for those from migrant communities and ethnic communities where there can be an isolationism particularly for young people. You need to reach out to those young people and say: 'You're part of this country. Your future is in this country.' I remember something Mecca Laalaa said to me when we walked the Kokoda Track. She said, 'I don't like it that I always have to prove that I'm Australian.' She should not like it that she has to prove to be Australian, because I can think of no better Australians than Mecca, her friends and others who are so committed to their future in this country and their family and others, like all of our families.

There is an opportunity here to send a very clear message to those young people and to work with them to give them different choices. If we do not give them different choices then the great risk is that they will take the bad choices. Our job here with these sorts of policies and measures is to help people to be able to make better choices for their lives. They are their choices, and we all have to own the choices we make, but we have to give them better options. They will be accountable for the decisions they make, and these four young men who have gone over to fight for Daesh will realise, sadly, the consequences of their choices. That will be a terrible tragedy for their family, and that is something we can avoid with these sorts of intervention programs.

The Transition Support for Young Refugees and Other Vulnerable Young Migrants program in the budget contains four measures. The Partnerships for Employment program will provide support for over 2,000 young refugees and vulnerable migrants to undertake job readiness programs to improve their work readiness, to gain work experience and to fill existing job vacancies. The Strong Connections to Education program will provide assistance for up to 1,500 young refugees and vulnerable migrants to remain engaged with education through addressing and building self-confidence and social connections. The Sports Engagement for Youth program will support up to 10,000 young people a year to participate in sporting activities delivered by community groups and sporting organisations to help young people build social connections and confidence beyond their own community. And the Increased Vocational Opportunities program will design an innovative partnership based model and pilot of new arrangements to create pathways for young refugees and vulnerable migrants to strengthen and obtain vocational skills, and up to 300 eligible young people will benefit.

This will all begin in January of next year. I rate it as one of the most important things we are doing as a department in the country's social and national interests. There is a real opportunity for these young people to take a different path from the maniacal, crazed and deadly one that they so clearly can fall into if we do not take this action.

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