Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday I wasn't in the chamber but I watched on the television in my office as the member for Swan, in such a heartfelt way, reminded people in this chamber that the words we say here reverberate around the country, and I am pleased to join in this matter of public importance today and see the opposite occurring. The words being said today will reverberate—hopefully, around this country. Hopefully, at kitchen tables tonight, people will be discussing the members of parliament who stood up and talked about social cohesion and the importance of social cohesion in all of our communities.

There is not a member of this House who does not feel the loss that the globe is watching. But, as I said to a group of students in one of the Islamic schools in my electorate a week ago, while I was hosting the SRC forum for the end of the year—and, as I said in this place when I spoke on the resolution supported in this House—my community is like a microcosm of the globe. If we get social cohesion right in Wyndham then we will be something for the world to look to and say: 'Look at that! Australia already prides itself on being that shining light of multiculturalism.' I am proud to say, as a proud Victorian, that I think we do it extraordinarily well south of the border.

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