Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Friday night, I attended my first meeting as a member of the Scouts Victoria state council. The speeches from the Scouts were inspirational. Hearing from girls who said that they used to be quiet but now they had found their voice and that instead of playing at home alone they were now out organising events and climbing trees was incredible. Hearing from boys who said they were usually picked last on their team for sports at school but were always first chosen to lead a team for orienteering when they were off scouting reminded you of the power of what this organisation could do.

Before the event started, I met Omar and Saad, from the Cleve Cole Rover Crew. Omar told me unassumingly that he came to Australia a year ago from Syria and had learnt to speak Australian English by watching political debates and speeches given in this House, including from our Facebook page. When he spoke during the evening, you could hear a pin drop as he explained how he was a scout in Syria and how, when they started distributing food parcels on a humanitarian basis, they came under attack from the Assad regime. He spoke of how he was taken in and was tortured and questioned, how he has lost contact with many of the other members of his Scout troop and how some of them have been killed. As he said to the group which was assembled there, 'Thank you for taking in 12,000 of us,' you could hear a pin drop. When he said, 'We need to have much more,' and, 'Thank you for the opportunity, Australia,' there was a standing ovation.

I want to say to you, Omar and Saad, thank you for coming to this country and thank you for helping to make it a better place.