Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am more than pleased to stand in this House today and speak about citizenship and the processing times, but I first want to reflect on the wonderful contribution that migrants have made to my community over many years. I think that has been properly reflected in the comments that have been made across this chamber. My community of Logan, in the northern part of my electorate, represents some 217 cultures. It's one of the most multicultural communities in Queensland, if not in the country.

I look at the contribution migrants have made since prior to World War II—and there was huge European migration after that world conflict—to more recent times. They have brought a variety of skills, ethnicity and talent to our community. It is astounding what they've built over that time since the formation of my community. We recently celebrated Beenleigh's 150th anniversary. That area was settled by German migrants back in the 1860s and 1870s. Look at the contribution that they and their families have made over that time. If you travel around the area, you can see landmarks and roads that are named after those historic families. Equally important—and we don't talk about this often enough—is their interaction with our Indigenous community. If you talk to those German migrants, they say that they survived that first summer and couple of years only with the assistance of our Indigenous community.

Over the past 150 years, from early humble beginnings, we've seen various waves of migrants come and build a society that we should all be very proud of. I'm pleased to say that in our area we have very few, if any, of the problems that we have had in some other communities around Australia at various times. When you look at the community markets that the African community hold every weekend in Woodridge in the member for Rankin's electorate, look at the displays at various community events and, as has been mentioned by others, look at the wonderful and diverse national dress that some of our newer citizens display at citizenship ceremonies, you see the colour and culture that they bring.

I well understand the disappointment or frustration that people have expressed in my office at the time taken to get their citizenship ceremony done so that they can be fully-fledged citizens and feel like they're contributing to the community they so love and that has adopted them. They recognise the immense privilege that it is to become an Australian citizen and obtain that fundamental national identity.

As this motion mentions, there are, and there have been, some backlogs. I can say to this House and to the community more broadly that we are working to ensure that the backlog is minimised. There have been occasions when I've conducted ceremonies in my office where that has been required to deal with an issue that a new citizen was facing. As a government, we're continuing to work on reducing that backlog. I have held a couple of citizenship ceremonies myself, through my office, to assist with that as well. So, if there are people in my electorate of Forde needing assistance, I'm more than happy to assist them deal with those issues so they can move on with their lives.

In closing, I want to say thank you to all of the people for the contribution they have made. We have seen, over the past 150 years, that the contribution has built a society we should all be rightly proud of. Far too often we hear those who talk down the success of Australia as a country that has welcomed migrants from the four corners of the world, but my experience is that those people come here with a genuine heart and a genuine desire to build and grow their families and achieve the success and the outcomes, and they see this country affording them the opportunity to do so. I want to thank them for the contribution they make each and every day to our community.

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