Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

When politicians say racist things, it hurts. When politicians come to Melbourne and talk about African gangs, it hurts. When politicians say that they don't want Muslim people coming to this country, it hurts. When politicians talk about boat people or talk about migrants who come here as 'illegal', that hurts. It hurts especially in my community of Melbourne, where so many people come from so many different parts of the world. They say this is not what they want to hear.

I went and visited Sacred Heart primary school in Fitzroy, a Catholic school just down the road from my street. They've been spending the year talking about harmony and how Australia should live in harmony and with multiculturalism. They've decided to take matters into their own hands. They want to promote a different version of Australia, one that I think we'd all agree with. They've taken a wonderful song, 'I am Australian', and added a few verses themselves. My singing is terrible, but, if you'll indulge me, Deputy Speaker, I'd like to get some of it on record. This is what the kids at Sacred Heart want to add to the song 'I am Australian':

We came out from Europe escaping from the war

Our families wanted freedom but they were very poor

They worked so hard they saved up cash

I don't know how they coped

But with courage and persistence

They arrived in the land of hope

We came from Vietnam, on an old and leaky boat.

Our families they were terrified they wouldn't stay afloat.

Our country had been rocked by war but our families had survived.

We finally came to safety

In Australia, we're alive!

My mum left Ethiopia

Her family was very poor

They came to Australia

Searching for something more

They are now much happier

Their lives are now complete

Living in this peaceful land

At peace with all we meet

My dad came to Australia to seek a better life.

He returned back to China, where he married his long lost wife.

In Melbourne they settled down and had children numbering 3.

They went to school at Sacred Heart and now we're safe and free.

Our families came from South Sudan

They came by boat or plane.

50 years of civil war

They experienced much pain.

They had to run to camps abroad and wait for many years.

But arriving in the great south land

Excitement replaced their fears

We are one but we are many

And from all the Lands on earth we come

We share a dream and sing with one voice

I am, you are, we are Australian.

Thank you to the chamber and parliamentarians, and I hope I haven't damaged too many people's hearing. On behalf of Sacred Heart: we are all Australians.

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