Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have met a queen, but I haven't met the Queen! This was a young fellow who came to Australia as a Somali refugee at the age of five. I am very proud of the work that he did with my organisation and the young man—he's just turned 28—that he's become.

I want to take the opportunity today to reflect on the words of Sean O'Callaghan. My husband, who works in law enforcement and security, was extremely worried that I was going to meet a former terrorist, who still had death threats and who was still under the watchful gaze of the IRA. He made me promise that I would call him as soon as the meeting was done. I remember walking back to my hotel in London that evening and calling my husband and gushing about the five hours that I had spent with Sean O'Callaghan. My husband, who was a former police officer, reminded me that this man had actually killed police and that he was a former terrorist. But I have met a lot of people who were terrorist operatives in their lives. All of them had turned their lives around in some way. All of them have said the same thing to me. All of them have spoken about opportunity. All of them have spoken about choice. All of them have spoken about this idea that if people feel that they don't have a choice and don't have an opportunity, then they turn their lives in negative ways.

In the last three minutes or so of my contribution today I want to come back to the budget and to JobKeeper and JobSeeker. The wage subsidies are something which Labor called for and which I commended the government on providing during this—I hate the word 'unprecedented', but here it comes—unprecedented time. I commend the government for providing these, but I would urge the government to think of those words. I know the member for Moncrieff, I know the member for Goldstein, and I know that both of them personally have a commitment—I know that you do you, Deputy Speaker Zimmerman—you all have a commitment to providing opportunities for young people. I know you believe in that underlying philosophy that life is just a series of negotiations. I've had conversations with you, so I know. I truly believe that most of the people here are here for the right reasons. So I urge us all to think about those questions that I posed earlier. Who gets to have a go? We have an incredible opportunity here to ensure that everybody gets to have a go, to ensure that the people who most need it get to have a vision of their lives where there is an opportunity to do good and to contribute. We have that power right here, right now. Let's not squander that. Let's stay true to that philosophy of helping those who need it the most, of providing opportunity, of providing vision, of giving people hope—because that's what we all want.

Now, I have to brag a little bit here: yesterday my son got engaged.

An honourable member: Congratulations!

Thank you. It's been a long time coming! I am now negotiating the terms of grandmotherhood—but anybody who knows me knows there is no such thing as negotiation! Yesterday my son got engaged, and it was a particularly proud moment for me because I was a single mum. I know that all of us here who have children, stepchildren or young people in our lives in some capacity might have a lot of differences, but the thing that we have in common is that we want the next generation to have it better than we did. We want our kids to have an easier life than we did. We want them to have a better education. We want them to have more opportunities. We don't want them to face the hardships that we had to face. That's why we're here: to make it better for them, and the next generation, and the generation after that—for everyone's children. You will meet somebody who you think you will have nothing in common with, but, I guarantee you, if you sit there and you start talking to them about kids, about the future, about opportunity, you'll find something in common and you will form that bond that makes us all human.

On a final note, I repeat: life is just a series of negotiations. Let's negotiate a better way for our country.

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