Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This year Refugee Week is being celebrated in Australia on 18 to 24 June, and it encompasses United Nations World Refugee Day on 20 June. The first Refugee Week events were organised in Sydney in 1986, before it became a national event in 1988. Refugee Week celebrates those who have built a better life here in Australia, contributed to our collective Australian society and helped make Australia a better place in which to live. This week is about celebrating those who have made Australia their home, their contributions and their stories.

As shadow minister for immigration, I have had the honour to travel around Australia to meet refugees, to visit support services and to sit in on English language classes. I have spoken with mothers who do not talk about the challenges of resettling in another country but about the opportunities in Australia for their children to get an education, to live safely and to have a future. These families speak of their gratitude. We on this side of the House believe in a compassionate approach to asylum seekers, so that genuine refugees can progress their claim safely, securely, and in a timely way. I thank those people who have made a contribution to the Australian community. In Australia, we have resettled 865,000 refugees and people in humanitarian need since the end of World War II. I encourage all members to visit Refugee Week events in their electorates and to support refugees in this country.