Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over the parliamentary break, I was busy doorknocking and meeting constituents to discuss Labor's cost-of-living relief. I also had the opportunity to travel to North Macedonia. This was my second trip to North Macedonia as the chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for the Republic of North Macedonia. Relations between Australians and Macedonians began in the 19th century, when workers arrived in places like Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill during the Australian gold rush. This connection deepened after the Second World War, when waves of migrants left war-torn Europe in search of a better life in Australia. Today, over 100,000 Australians claim Macedonian birth or heritage, and I am confident in saying their influence has made Australia a much better place to live in.

During this trip, I visited the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia and met with MPs from the North Macedonia parliamentary group for Australia and New Zealand. We discussed ways to strengthen the people-to-people links between our nations. I also met with their new president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova. The president and I have much in common. Apart from both being proud Christians and having a deep love for North Macedonia, we are both the first women to hold our respective positions. I am the first female to represent the division of Holt and she is the first female President of North Macedonia. We also share a deep passion for reading classic literature and had a long conversation about the works of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. Continuing my trip, I met with the mayor of Bitola, the Australian consul-general in North Macedonia and Archbishop Stefan Veljanovski and visited dozens of the 1,200 churches and monasteries scattered across the country.

I had the opportunity to visit Turkiye during my parliamentary break. Turkiye has long been the crossroads of civilisation, where East meets West. With Istanbul having been the capital of both the Orthodox and Islamic worlds at different times, it is a city carved with thousands of years of history. The Hagia Sophia was built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian as the cathedral of Constantinople and served as a religious and spiritual centre of the Orthodox church. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, it was converted into a mosque by Mehmed the Conqueror. I visited the Grand Bazaar, which was also built after Mehmed's conquest. It is thought to be one of the oldest indoor markets in the world. It is a maze of over 61 undercover streets that sell gold, jewellery, furniture, carpet, leather, fabrics, clothes, incense and food, among many other items.

In Turkiye I also had the opportunity to visit a place of great significance to Australians, Anzac Cove in Gallipoli. It was here in 1915 that ANZAC troops, alongside the French and British, fought against the Ottoman Empire to open a new southern front. On these shores at Gallipoli, over 12,100 men lay down their lives for this cause. As I looked up at the towering cliffs and walked along the beach, I could only imagine the bravery of our ANZACs as they charged through barbed wire, with Turkish machine-guns raining down on them from above.

Gallipoli has become a defining moment in the history of both Australia and New Zealand, embodying the qualities that have come to define both nations: courage, bravery and mateship. The landing at Gallipoli is an event we commemorate each year on 25 April, a day of remembrance and reflection for the sacrifices made by the brave men and women of the Australian Defence Force. Visiting this site was a profound privilege and one I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Lest we forget.

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