Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

During the discussion of Afghanistan in the parliament I ran out of time to mention a phenomenal woman in my electorate, Dr Nouria Salehi. Nouria has been a resident of Australia since 1981 and has been contributing not only to Australia but also to her homeland in Afghanistan. I emailed Nouria today and said I was going to add to my contribution and she wrote:

I am excited that you are talking about Afghani people and their problems. One is their status as being illiterate and unskilled. To be breadwinner for their family they easily join Taliban. If we can make more opportunities to train them and offer a job, then there is no need for to them to join the Taliban. Let us introduce peace through education, training and giving a skill.

Nouria has not only been talking the talk, she has been walking it. She established the Australian Afghanistan Development Organisation in 2001, on top of many other numerous charity organisations she has been involved with. This is an NGO registered with the Australian Council for International Development and is engaged in initiating and supporting projects in Afghanistan. Most of these projects have been achieved through individual donations and funding from various philanthropic organisations. Nouria and her family run the Afghan Gallery in Fitzroy and most of the proceeds from that establishment actually go to funding their charitable works back in their homeland. They also donated their family home and land in Afghanistan to be used as a training facility for the various works they are doing. She writes again:

As you know, Afghanistan has been suffering 30 years of war and the destroyed infrastructure still remains unchanged with minimal construction. There is a lack of hospitals, schools, roads, bridges and housing. The opportunity to rebuild is hindered by a tenuous economy, a lack of educated adults, unsure men and vulnerable women and children. In this situation you can imagine that this country, especially the capital Kabul, finds it difficult to support the local citizenry, let alone cope with the basic needs of approximately 5 million returned refugees from camps to Kabul.

Nouria has been visiting Kabul twice a year since 2002 and in that time she has established many programs, basic programs to ensure people have skills. One of the programs I particularly like is From Guns to Pens—Ongoing Youth Vocational Training Project. This project seeks to work with Afghani youth who have grown up in an environment largely defined by guns. It provides them with vocational training and skills development.

Nouria has established centres to train women in sewing skills, but more importantly she has also been going back and re-educating teachers who have not been able to obtain the necessary skills. So she has been improving the outcomes for students by ensuring that their teachers have the relevant skills and qualifications. On numerous occasions, she has shipped—and she continues to ship—books that we would throw out. She does this because they have nothing in their libraries. Even English texts are valuable to them and she sends these home frequently.

She is a phenomenal individual from a phenomenal family. What she has done shows what can be done and what is being done. We are not talking enough about the grassroots things that are being done. She also talks about disappointment, saying:

Speaking closely with people, they were concerned and disappointed with the 2004 Constitution which offered equal status and respect for all citizens, males and females, ethnic grouping or social class. So far none of the promises have been successfully applied. This has been very discouraging for all people in Afghanistan and for those who return to their country from refugee camps.

Afghani people, especially the younger generation, need skills to undertake jobs and take part in the reconstruction of their country. Unemployment is too high, they cannot feed their families, and their children cannot attend schools because of lack of stationery and clothing.

She goes on to say:

On behalf of the Afghan-Australian community in Victoria, I would like you to consider the following points:

Re-building of the irrigation infrastructure so that this very arable land can once again provide food for its people with potential for development of export businesses

Re-building of basic housing as much of the housing has been destroyed

Support for the basic literacy and numeracy education of citizens

Development of vocational skills: carpenters, builders, electricians, plumbers, agriculture, health workers, child-care, infant/maternal health, small business, tourism etc.

All of these skills have been lost. This used to be a country with a very high level of education and it is sad to see that destroyed.

In the very short time I have left, I regret that I must inform the House that I have just discovered that Kath Byer, an amazing woman from my electorate, passed away last night. Kath was the owner of the Notting Hill Hotel, so any Monash student would have known Kath. She was the first female owner of a licence in Victoria and had been a hotel owner in Victoria for longer than anyone—she had run the Notting Hill Hotel for longer than any of us can remember. Only a couple of months ago, I was at the Not for a traditional ALP fundraiser I hold there every year. She was still sprightly and going and I am very sad to hear that Kath has passed away—a truly great female that we will all miss.