Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I commence my adjournment speech, all of the people on this side of the House join in acknowledging all those who suffered loss during those fires, and we also acknowledge the sacrifices that volunteers made on that day—putting themselves at risk in that fire. And acknowledging that they do so right around the country on many occasions, so we join ourselves with those comments.

I note that suicide is the leading cause of death for young Australians aged between 15 and 24. Nine young Australians die by suicide every day, and the number is growing every year. These are truly tragic statistics. The pandemic and lockdowns took a heavy toll, with 42 per cent of people between 18 and 24 reporting serious levels of psychological distress. Young workers were hit hardest. They were more likely to work casually, and they were more likely to be in jobs affected by border closures and lockdowns.

As a nation we have much work ahead of us, but there are some successes that I would like to acknowledge today. Since its establishment in 1985, Youth Insearch, which is behind this week's End Youth Suicide Week, has supported 32,000 at-risk youth to overcome trauma and mental health issues and to protect them against suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, and delinquency. A significant proportion of the youth supported are from culturally and linguistically diverse communities like those in my electorate.

As a federal MP of one of the most diverse electorates, I am acutely aware of the targeting of people from African backgrounds. Racism has a terrible effect on mental health, particularly for young people. I would like to acknowledge some powerful advocacy work among culturally and linguistically diverse communities by young people in Fraser. Mohamed Semra, a Sudanese-born refugee, is no stranger to racism. He made international headlines when, as a 16-year-old, he and six friends of African heritage were stopped from entering an Apple store at Highpoint because staff were concerned that the group might steal something. They made a video and uploaded it onto the internet. After it went viral, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, apologised personally. He called the incident 'unacceptable' and announced that store leadership teams around the world, starting in Australia, would be refreshing their training on inclusion and customer engagement. What an amazing global impact for a 16-year-old to have!

But Mohamed continued with his efforts and is having an ongoing local impact. For Mohamed and his friends, the racism and unconscious bias that they experience are just part of their daily life. At school he and his friends would often be referred to as gang members. When handing in written assignments they were sometimes questioned about whether they had copied each other's work. Mohamed's experience that day in Apple has inspired him to go down the activist path. He became school captain at Maribyrnong College—a first for an African student with a refugee background. And after he graduated from school, he co-founded Endeavour Youth Australia, which works to tackle racism and unconscious bias in schools and to help young people from diverse backgrounds to fulfil their leadership potential.

Endeavour Youth Australia works with schools all over Melbourne, but mainly in the west. Mohamed mentors disengaged students and, along with the education department, develops programs to support students and staff on how to have conversations about racism to understand the damage that words can cause. Mohamed says that students from diverse backgrounds want to take part in leadership activities, but it is very hard to be the first in line. He says:

When kids don't see themselves or their culture represented or accepted at school, it becomes easy to disassociate.

Mentoring plays a key role, with all of the facilitators at Endeavour Youth Australia having lived experiences of racism. He says:

We look like them, we have similar experiences, we have persevered and have broken through barriers. We show the kids how to use their experiences to build resilience—whether it is to succeed at school or later in their lives.

Last week, Endeavour Youth ran the Multicultural Youth Leadership Conference, which was attended by more than 500 students from 20 schools. Students heard from young leaders in a range of industries and attended workshops on digital leadership, diversity, resilience and tackling racism. Last month, I had the privilege of attending a futsal tournament organised by Endeavour Youth. The women's final, which I presented the trophy for, dramatically went to overtime. Not only was it a great sporting event, with more than 100 young men and women competing, it was a wonderful celebration of multiculturalism.