Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday was Father's Day. It was also Australian National Flag Day. During the week I took the opportunity to go down to the Good Samaritan Catholic Primary School in Roxburgh Park, in my electorate, and I was delighted to be given the opportunity to present an Australian flag to the students of grade 1 and to talk to them about the Australian flag. The two children who were chosen to receive the flag from me were Michele and Angela. Both children are refugees from Iraq. Angela's family arrived in November 2016, and Michele and his family arrived in January 2017. Michele was so impressed by the opportunity to be given the flag that he wanted to keep it. I had to promise him that I would get him his own very special flag, and I intend to get him one of the flags that are flown in this chamber, as a welcome to Australia. I also had the opportunity to meet with Michele's mother and father. His father is a man who has come to Australia for a better future for his children. On that note, I just want to say that fathers have a very important role to play in the lives of their children. Father's Day is a very important event. It has been so for as far back as I can remember, and it will continue to be. I see the importance of that relationship in my own son's relationship with his father, and I just want to re-affirm and acknowledge that Father's Day recognises and acknowledges the role that dads play in raising sons and daughters.

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