Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

When His Excellency Vasyl Myroshnychenko pitched to be Ukraine's ambassador to Australia he felt, given his background, it would be a role about commerce, economic development and trade. Building business links between his nation and ours was to be a priority for this Chevening scholar, who has a master's in sciences in politics of the world economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Mr Myroshnychenko arrived in Australia directly from the Ukraine capital, Kyiv, on 26 March 2022. Russia had invaded his homeland little more than a month earlier. As Mr Myroshnychenko told the National Press Club in Canberra on 24 February 2023, marking 12 months since the invasion began, his work here has been chiefly in military matters, not in enhancing trade opportunities as originally intended. In fact, he's had to be more of an arms dealer than an ambassador—so much so that he has earned the nickname 'Vasyl the Bushmaster' for his advocacy to obtain the world-renowned, Bendigo-built infantry mobility vehicle. Australia has delivered upwards of 90 Bushmasters to Ukraine, to help in the fight against Russia. Describing the Bushmaster as 'handy and hardy', Mr Myroshnychenko went even further, saying: 'It is the Anzac spirit on wheels.' He added: 'Ukraine is lucky that Australia is in our blue and gold corner.' That said, 140 other countries are also on Ukraine's side. Mr Myroshnychenko said Russia's actions were 'not only a war on Ukraine but a war on democracy'. How very true. He said Ukraine was being hit with—wait for it— 20,000 Russian bombs a day. That's about 15 every minute; you can just imagine.

'The goal for Ukraine,' he told the Press Club, 'is to win in 2023, for the world's sake. It will be won by all on the side of democracy being beyond brave.' Earlier in his address, Mr Myroshnychenko said thousands of Ukrainian citizens had been killed during the 'illegal' and immoral' invasion. We've all seen those images of the maternity wards of hospitals being bombed beyond repair. This is an outrage. This is disgraceful. The world needs to unite even further, to do all we can, to help those Ukrainians.

Ukraine is a major supplier of grain and food for countries in the Horn of Africa, and they are now facing starvation. They are facing famine. The member for Moreton knows this. He and I have had a number of discussions about this. This is because of the disruption to supplies and supply chains because of the Russian invasion. 'Russia has compromised the food and energy security of so many countries,' Mr Myroshnychenko said. 'Australia has been a real mate to Ukraine, standing up to a bully.'

Closer to home, we have a Ukrainian musician in my home town of Wagga Wagga. Her name is Larissa Burack. She is a beautiful human being. She continues to raise funds and awareness, through concerts. She can play the traditional Ukrainian instruments. She can sing. Her version of the Ukrainian anthem has to be heard to be believed. It makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. She has been speaking at many events about the plight of her beloved country. While she is a long, long way from home, being in Wagga Wagga, her heart is still very much with her homeland. I understand that. It must be so difficult for her. She said she believed that Ukraine would ultimately prevail, 'But we need a lot of help.' And she is right.

The Ukrainian embassy's charge d'affaires, Volodymyr Shalkivskyi, was given a civic reception by Wagga Wagga City Council on 16 September last year, and he returned to town on 21 December to catch up with Uranquinty veteran Damien Nye. Damien is doing a fantastic job to provide humanitarian aid to those in Ukraine, and he is being supported in that cause by Wagga Wagga Rotary clubs, and particularly the Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga.

On 3 March last year Wagga Wagga held a prayer vigil in the Victory Memorial Gardens for those in Ukraine. The number of people who came out, from all backgrounds, all sides of politics, young and old, was, quite frankly, astonishing—but not really, when you think about it, because Wagga Wagga is a very peace-loving community, a diverse, multicultural community, and, when our friends get the treatment that they've been receiving from Russia, we stand as one. That's Wagga Wagga did, and we'll continue to help the national efforts to help Ukraine.

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