Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about an issue that I'm strongly and deeply passionate about—as you are, Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou—and that is our country's proud history of immigration. This also includes refugees trying to make a better life for themselves by escaping from horrendous situations and dreadful wars that have devastated countries. We know there are well over six million people living in Australia today who were born overseas—let alone the people who have one or both parents born overseas. That is a massive group of people and a massive part of the population of Australia. Many families have a history—like mine and yours, Deputy Speaker, and many others in this place—which involves migration and, sometimes, forced migration. People have come to Australia as asylum seekers who had no choice but to escape a nation where they were terrified for their own lives and their children's and family's lives.

This brings me to an issue which is very sad in our history. The first asylum seekers arrived in Nauru on 15 September 2012, over five years ago, and in Papua New Guinea on 21 November 2012—some 600 refugees in the care, supposedly, of the Australian government, trapped in a facility without running water, with makeshift beds, poor sanitary conditions and a government here in Australia saying, 'It's got nothing to do with us.' This is an inhumane government. These asylum seekers were torn away from their countries and their families and friends because of the situations I outlined earlier. They were stopped from entering Australia and locked up with absolutely no end date. In other words, they were put into prison. Imagine if we did this during World War I, World War II, the Korean War or Vietnam—the list goes on. People were escaping those wars, including the large Jewish community in Australia. But this is not a true liberal government, in the sense of the former Menzies or Fraser governments. They looked at human issues that affected people and took pride in the way they delivered policies in this country.

Australia has been enhanced by our migration policies and our refugee policies over many years. These people have brought in new ideas and better education institutions. We have better food; they've improved our food. We also have better art, language and creativity as a direct result of immigration. Abandoning refugees in the care of this government is criminal. This is an outrage and it must stop. We are spending millions of dollars to keep innovation, culture and diversity out of this country. I am sick to my stomach about this issue.