Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend a citizenship ceremony within the Moreton Bay Regional Council's Redcliffe Cultural Centre, where over 100 people chose to become Australian citizens. It was wonderful to see people from all around the globe—people from England and parts of the former USSR and the Philippines—who have made the commitment to become Australian citizens and who want to embrace our wonderful way of life. We know—and we would all agree in this place—that we live in the greatest country in the world, and we want to make sure that we continue to accept people from right around the world who want to call Australia home.

I also want to congratulate Brian de Leeuw, who lives at Woody Point in my electorate and has also just become an Australian citizen. Brian—who was down here today with his wife, Penny, and their children, Jacob and Alia—was born in New Zealand and has lived in this country for about 15 years now but has decided to become a citizen. He has a wonderful work ethic, and I want to welcome him as our latest Australian citizen.

On a different note, I note that the federal member for Dawson, George Christensen, introduced a private member's bill to the Australian parliament to make desecrating the Australian flag unlawful. I also note that the member for Throsby supported that in the House of Representatives today.

I think that the bill is a great idea because three of my four grandparents fought under that flag in World War II, and we want to make sure that it is upheld.