Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This year I marked the Centenary of Anzac at a dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Mehmet Bicoll, a local icon from Footscray in Melbourne's west, travelled to Gallipoli. Mehmet was born in Turkey and arrived in Australia in 1970. He has owned businesses in Buckley Street in Footscray and tells fantastic stories of his time in Australia. His most famous story was when he served Prince Charles a kebab in Footscray Park. Mehmet loves his adopted country as much as he loves the country of his birth. He is always at local events representing the Turkish Australian community, and he represents Australia when he returns to visit his family in Turkey.

A few weeks ago, Mehmet came into my office unannounced, as he often does, to show me and my staff some photos from his trip. In almost all of his photos he is draped with the Turkish and Australian flags, smiling with strangers he met along the way. I was proud to lend him one of these Australian flags from my office, which once hung outside the chamber, to take with him on his journey. Back in Australia, Mehmet has spent time and money making sure that all the RSLs in Victoria have a framed image of the founder of modern Turkey, Ataturk, and his famous speech about Turkey and Australia's relationship. It is the famous poem that goes:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives … You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours …

Mehmet has worked tirelessly in our local community since arriving 45 years ago. He is a wonderful ambassador for Australia and our community and a great example of the success of Australian multiculturalism.