Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Saturday, 11 March 2006 I represented my colleague the Hon. Andrew Robb, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, to officially launch the Living in Harmony partnership between the surf-lifesaving movement and the Australian government. The launch took place at Cronulla Beach, the scene of last year’s riots, set against the backdrop of the very successful New South Wales Surf Life Saving Championships.

As members would be aware, my electorate of Cook was the scene of the now infamous Cronulla riots in December 2005. It is very hard to imagine, sitting here in Canberra, what the feeling was like on the streets of southern Sydney on 11 December and in the days following. The streets of my suburb, Cronulla, which had been awash with such anger and protest on the Sunday afternoon, were suddenly deserted. Stories flooded the airwaves about violent retaliations, and the noise of police sirens pierced the air on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights.

With the streets of Cronulla deserted, the shops were largely empty and the restaurants were closed—and some businesses are no longer in business as a result of the impact of the race riots. Wild rumours whipped through the community about retaliations, bashings, shootings and even concealed deaths. There was a feeling of fear amongst local residents. The Cronulla riots and the subsequent retaliatory attacks in the lead-up to Christmas last year were a wake-up call to us all. These tragic and violent events showed us all that respect and harmony is not something that can just be relied on. It is beholden on all of us, as citizens, residents and community members—as Australians—to work towards a peaceable society, a society that we all feel is ours in common.

It was against this backdrop that on the Tuesday following the riots I telephoned Ahmad Kamaledine, president of the Lebanese Moslems Association. We had never met before, but in light of the conflict between our respective communities we decided we needed to provide leadership to show each community that we stood as one against continued violence and unrest. Ahmad, Stephen Stanton, representing Christian Lebanese, and I all worked hard to bring together the leaders, and we met for the first time on the Thursday following the riots.

I would like at this point to briefly thank some of the more than 30 community leaders who came together on that Thursday: the presidents of each of the four surf clubs—Brian Ferguson, Steve Frawley, Greg Holland and Ron Smith, known as Smithy; my good friend Barry Pierce, president of the Cronulla Sharks; Jason Stevens, formerly a Sharks player and a local legend; TV identity Daniel MacPherson; the police commander, Robert Redfern; Malcolm Kerr, the state member for Cronulla; and the member for Hughes, Danna Vale. I would also like to single out the Mayor of Sutherland Shire Council, Kevin Schreiber, who showed outstanding leadership to the shire during this time.

From the Australian Lebanese community, I would like to particularly acknowledge Ahmad Kamaledine and Stephen Stanton, who I have already mentioned. I would also like to acknowledge Nada Roude and her brother Ali Roude of the Islamic Council of New South Wales, Andre Kortbawi of the Australian Lebanese Christian Federation, and Samir Dandan and Rabih El Ayoubi of the Lebanese Moslems Association.

The Living in Harmony project that I launched provides funding to bring young Australians from diverse backgrounds together through the surf-lifesaving movement. This project sprang directly from the meeting of community leaders I have just mentioned. Initially the brainchild of Nada Roude of the Islamic Council, the idea of bringing together young shire people and young Australian Lebanese youths to foster mutual understanding was enthusiastically embraced by all the community leaders. That afternoon, in consultation with the leaders, I submitted a funding proposal to the Prime Minister and Minister Cobb. It is a great testament to the community leaders, the minister, the Prime Minister and the Australian government that this proposal was not only considered but was approved and funded by Friday afternoon. This program announcement with all community leaders present sent a strong and compelling message to our communities that the leaders stood united against violence, that we stood as one in our calls for the violence to end so the underlying issues could be resolved.

The project as initially announced only focused on the shire. Surf Life Saving Australia has been so keen to take up our pilot idea that the project is now worth some $860,000 and will be replicated across Australia. The Sutherland shire component of the proposal is funded to the order of some $260,000. This money will fund club membership for the participants, some limited course materials and, importantly, a full-time coordination officer. The officer will be responsible for making sure that the participants are properly guided and absorbed into the surf clubs and are supported through their bronze medallion course.

This is a program which we fully support and which the community supports. I think it provides a way forward for how we can work together and train together in terms of the surf clubs. Hopefully, young Lebanese men and women will take their place in surf-lifesaving clubs across Australia. (Time expired)