Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this private member's motion moved by the member for Mackellar, and I commend him for his fine words. I commend also the member for Cooper—Stan Lasek's story is a story that is so typical not just of Poles but of people from so many countries all around the world. It's a fabulous migrant story, and thank you for sharing it with the House.

Poland is a good friend of Australia's, and indeed, as the member for Mackellar has indicated with this motion, our friendship extends beyond the half-century of formal years of diplomatic relations. Our ties with this small country, which is only about four per cent the size of Australia, are in fact far greater and far longer than that. Our ties stretch back to World War II, as the member for Mackellar indicated, in the trenches of Europe, defending Allied territory against Adolf Hitler in the protection of freedom, with our troops, our diggers, our men, our women as well, making sure that they did what they could to prevent the spread of totalitarianism and, later on, communism. Our troops fought alongside Poles in the siege of Tobruk in 1941, and a number of Australian aircrews flew in support of the Warsaw uprising in 1944.

More recently, in August 2021, the Australian government, working with our friends in Poland, was able to strike a deal to secure more than a million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to help support our vaccination campaign—our vaccination campaign which has been one of the most successful in the world, I might add—and the outbreak last year in Sydney. We are grateful to our many, many Polish friends for this assistance at one of the most serious times of the pandemic here in Australia.

Closer to home and highlighting the connection between the Riverina, my electorate in the central west, and Poland, I'm proud that the town of Cowra, known for being home to Australia's World Peace Bell, holds an annual festival known as the Festival of International Understanding. This festival highlights the customs and traditions of a different country each year, and in 2006 Poland was the feature country. Regrettably, I was not the local MP at the time; Cowra was then in Hume. But, from all accounts, there was plenty of traditional dancing and Polish cuisine such as pierogi, potatoes; sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers; and plenty of vodka, I'm told.

Turning to trade: Poland is a growing market for Australia. Between 2015 and 2019, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reported that two-way trade between our two nations experienced growth of 11.2 per cent per annum, valued at nearly $20 billion. That's a lot of money. Our major exports to Poland include coal, ores and other concentrates. The Riverina and Central West regions are home to a number of mines—not coal mines, but gold and copper mines—with the CMOC-Northparkes mine in Parkes and the Evolution mine at Lake Cowal, near West Wyalong. I trust and hope that some of the exceptional minerals that are extracted from the ground there make their way to Poland.

In 2018 Australia was proud to host a visit from the President of Poland, and, just as we were pleased to welcome His Excellency Andrzej Duda—when we're not in the middle of a pandemic—we usually welcome thousands of Polish visitors to our shores. When those borders are lifted, I'm sure they're going to be coming flocking back to work, to visit, to play and to catch up, of course, with relatives. Up until June 2020, we welcomed about 17,400 tourists to Australia and almost 500 working holiday-makers. That shows the great relationship between Australia and Poland.

With the borders reopening very soon, I encourage more Polish tourists to come back and consider visiting my electorate—from Warsaw to Wagga Wagga!—and indeed they will certainly be very welcome. They can pick cherries at Young. They can help out wherever they can, as a farmhand or in any of our other great industries throughout the electorate. Perhaps they may make lifelong memories, and, today being St Valentine's Day, maybe they might even come to Australia and fall in love—not just with the place but also with an Australian here—further strengthening the strong ties that Australia and Poland have enjoyed for 50 years. May this association continue for many more years to come.

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