Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Afghanistan is a tragedy, and as the end to this 20-year war comes full circle, it ends where it began: with suicide bombers killing and maiming innocent people, the Taliban in control, and violence and fundamentalism on the rise again. I came into parliament as this war started. I was one of the many in this place who spoke out against Australia's involvement. Hundreds of thousands of Australians did so too. I would never have imagined in those early days that it would become Australia's longest war. Its purpose, its accomplishments, its failures and futilities will be measured by what its victims have experienced throughout these past 20 years, with many feeling it now more than ever. Whether it be the refugees and the dispossessed, the bravery and the deaths, or talk of geopolitics, the question will be: was it worth it after all? Only time will be able to tell.

Today, however, I want to focus on my own community in my electorate of Calwell, which has been touched by this war in all its aspects. We're a community which counts amongst us one of the 41 Australian soldiers tragically lost to this war, as well as the many refugees fleeing its effects. Corporal Cameron Baird grew up in Gladstone Park in my electorate, where he attended Gladstone Views Primary School and graduated from Gladstone Park Secondary College. Cameron was the 40th Australian soldier to tragically die in Afghanistan. We've paid tribute to Corporal Baird in this parliament as the 100th recipient of the Victoria Cross of Australia award for valour—Australia's highest honour. When I visited the Al Minhad military base in the UAE some years ago, I was moved to see the Australian domestic compound of the joint task force named in memory of Corporal Baird.

Our community of Broadmeadows is also home to the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre. In 2008 we began receiving the growing cohort of unaccompanied minors coming to Australia, predominantly from Afghanistan and Iraq. Both wars were still in full swing, and in this case minors were making the dangerous journey in desperation, seeking refuge and safety. My community at that time felt strongly about our responsibility to offer these young kids asylum and safe refuge, and, through our interaction with MITA, we got to know many of them very well. We knew then that they would go on to become great Australians, contributing to our society and enriching our own understanding of ourselves and the world around us. And they have gone on to do exactly that. I have remained in regular contact with many of them as they contribute to our vibrant, successful, multicultural Australia.

In March of this year I spoke of the need to have pathways to permanency for refugees. A large number from Afghanistan are currently languishing in Australia, on TPVs and SHEVs, all of whom seek opportunities for safety and who in return want to make a contribution to this country. It shouldn't take historical markers of war to be displayed on our television screens for us to address this reality. It is my hope, and that of the hundreds who have written to me, that we face up to the challenge and do the right thing by the people of Afghanistan seeking refuge, for they have lived and breathed the horrors of this war for so long. People like my constituent Ali Reza Yunespour, a member of the board of directors at Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia, have expressed their grave concern about Australian citizens and visa holders in Afghanistan who missed the chance to be evacuated last week. They have spoken of those still at high risk and the need for the government to consider all diplomatic options, including working with the UNHCR in helping to get people out of Kabul. They have spoken of how we must work tirelessly for negotiated safe passage either through Kabul airport or through regional countries. This includes breathing life into our subclass 449 visas for those fleeing for safety, and offering temporary travel documents for those without any.

With 20 years of sacrifice behind us, we need to do the right thing by the Australian soldiers who lost their lives, by the hundreds of soldiers who were injured, by the hundreds more who succumbed to the trauma of this war through suicide and of course by the people of Afghanistan. This means doing the right thing for Australia. As a country, we must open and increase our humanitarian settlement. Many throughout the country have written me, and I too, on behalf of those, ask that the government consider increasing our humanitarian intake for Afghanistan's refugees from 3,000 to 20,000. This should be an opportunity allowing us to bring to Australia and settle here the many, many victims of the war in Afghanistan.