Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

There are often occasions when I can't believe I'm here. There are probably instances, with the way that I carry on, where some of you on that side and even on my side probably agree with that statement—they probably rushed a bit too quickly to agree to that, but I'll put that aside! The reason why it's hard for me to believe I'm here is because my parents were a product of poverty. I visited my mum's place in rural Bosnia and the house that she grew up in, which is probably no bigger than this area. There were eight people crammed into that house, and my dad's place wasn't much different. In fact, I took my dad back to Bosnia for his 60th birthday and he showed me this beautiful bit of land. He said, 'This was ours until my dad gambled it away.'

They made it here in the late sixties, and Australia opened its doors to allow us to have the chance to be here. My old man got to work on the Snowy Mountains scheme. Dad worked with his hands. Mum worked at home to make sure that we had a family that was able to take advantage of all the great things in this country. I mention this to you because like many kids of migrants I carry around a debt of gratitude to this country that we were able to achieve. I got to go to university. I could count on one hand the folks in my family from my parents' generation that got to do that and Australia gave me the chance to do that here. I now get to serve in this place. Regardless of my faith, the commitment to my community is the thing that I'm judged on, which I'm very grateful for. I've learned in this place that you can always make yourself taller by standing on the back of someone else. As much as weapons wound, so do words, but actions mean more, the way that they bind us together.

There are a few improbable things in this place. One of them that's remarked on from time to time is my friendship with the member for Kooyong. The two of us are probably the biggest dags in parliament—I don't know if that's parliamentary, but we are! There we are, joined at the 'unhip'. We are from different parties, from different parts of the country and from different faiths, but actions matter more in terms of being able to find common ground. In our contributions today, we can focus on the people who are trying to divide us or focus more on the things that bring us together as a country. This is a moment that is supposed to do just that.

He used to be known as the member for Wentworth, and now is remarked as the Prime Minister, but I remember him calling me on my election here to congratulate me on my election, which I've never forgotten. We all in this place can recognise moments when we've taken a little bit of a step together as a nation. The things that bring us together matter more. The things that can allow us to be a better country are things that are worth celebrating. That's why I focus on these things today, not to focus on the things that divide us, that have caused great anger and annoyance and those that have sought to drive division or fuel fear, but to recognise that this is a moment that we on both sides will be judged on—not so much in terms of my words, but the actions of a Prime Minister or of a Leader of the Opposition in bringing the country together. They remind us that we've all got an obligation to make the place a better place.

I will end on this observation. People ask me whether, because of my Muslim faith, I have a problem with the Lord's Prayer at the start of parliament. No, I don't. When you hear God's words, you hear God's words. They are good words—in particular, 'and forgive us for our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us'. It's not an exhortation for the moment; it is a reminder for us to live a better life that is not mired in the negative but in something that's better, and this is the moment that we can build on.

There are a lot of people in different parts of the world who want to make their country great again. We've already got a great country. We can make it better, and we can make it better by working together and not focusing on the division and not focusing—if I can make this remark—on ignoring words that are used in a debate that have in times past caused great pain to people. When you use those two words 'final solution'—and I spend time with my great friends from the Jewish community, and I know the pain that they've gone through and that they've felt—you don't want that on anyone else, and you certainly don't want to remind people of the pain that they have been through. We are going to use this as a moment to recognise the great things about our country, but call out the times when we've made those missteps and say we can do better.

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