Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Sunday 4 December, Father's Day, I went along with my son, Stanley, and a couple of his friends to participate in the Crescents of Brisbane walk on the banks of the Brisbane River. CresWalk, which is a walk organised by one of the Islamic communities in Brisbane, is about communities reaching out, doing some exercise and having fun. It is an event that I did not win. Some people raced through; I just walked at a sedate pace, although I would point out that in years gone by, when I participated in this, with my son, Stanley—he is 11 years old now so I do not think I could put him in a pram—in the past, I have won the pram and wheelchair section pushing him, three years in a row. On the weekend, it was great to do it on Father's Day with Stanley, although I should point out that he seemed to be more interested in collecting Pokemons rather than actually participating in the walking part of it.

But the reason I wanted to stress this was that, unfortunately, we have some people from Queensland, elected representatives, who are focusing on the Islamic community talking up fear and division, rather than the reality of the Islamic community in Queensland. They are hardworking taxpayers doing their bit for the community, and I particularly commend all those from the Crescents of Brisbane for their great work with CresWalk.