Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday, 21 October, the Walk Together for freedom took place across 26 cities and regional centres. Walk Together is an initiative of welcome to Australia and a celebration of our country's diversity. As an ambassador for Welcome to Australia, I'm committed to an inclusive, welcoming and just society.

We often hear that Australia is a successful and proud multicultural nation, but what does that really mean in practice? It means valuing the diversity that makes us strong and working towards a future in which all those coming to Australia are welcomed and supported to make positive contributions.

This year, the Walk Together is for freedom—the freedom to belong, to be yourself, and to hope for a better future. In Australia, we know the importance of belonging and how important it is to belong and to feel valued by your community. Belonging to something gives you a reason to invest in it, to participate in it and to protect it. By making people part of our country, we make it stronger and we make it richer.

Those who participated in the march also did so in celebration of this parliament's resolve to defeat a bill that would have made us less welcoming. People with so much to contribute would have been stripped of the opportunity to become active citizens. Australia is welcoming. We're compassionate and diverse, and I'm proud to stand up for that today and every day. I pay tribute to the board and the staff and the partners and ambassadors of Welcome to Australia, who are committed to upholding that vision.