Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) that 3 August 2024 marked ten years since Islamic State (ISIS) militants attacked the Ezidi people of Sinjar;

(b) that the Ezidi people are one of the most ancient nations in the world, and their cultural identity, memories and practices are central to their ancient culture, yet many Ezidis have lived through unimaginable trauma and persecution;

(c) the important role played by former Prime Minister, the Hon Tony Abbott, in enabling the resettlement in Australia of 12,000 refugees escaping the Ezidi genocide in the northern parts of Syria and Iraq;

(d) that the electoral division of Groom is home to one of the largest groups of Ezidi people in Australia, and that their traditional language, the Ezidi language, is the second most spoken language in Groom, behind English;

(e) that by properly managing the immigration system, Australia was able to offer this important humanitarian assistance; and

(f) that by ensuring proper process, vetting and verification, the Government was able to reassure people on national security concerns and maintain social cohesion; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) recognise the Ezidis as a significant minority religious group in Australia;

(b) denounce the continuing persecution of Ezidis by ISIS militants;

(c) continue to provide funding for programs such as the Toowoomba Refugee and Migrant Service program that provide support to refugees and migrants; and

(d) apologise to the Ezidis and other refugees and migrants for changing the rules to fast-track one group of people over another.

Newtown Park has a fascinating history. You can walk through it today, and it has a beautiful rose garden, the Queensland State Rose Garden. But, on those grounds, the 11th Light Horse Regiment trained. They famously followed the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments in the ride on Beersheba. It's a proud part of our legacy, and the training grounds are still visible there in Newtown Park. Throughout World War II it was again a camp for US and Australian servicemen as they prepared for the awful days ahead.

Today it serves a very different part of our history. Today, you can walk through Newtown Park and see groups of Yazidi Australians—young kids playing soccer and volleyball, groups of elderly women sitting together in a circle talking and the Yazidi men always walking and talking all the way around the park. I'm there playing basketball with my kids. The challenges of languages and of cultures clashing together played out in this historic park in the centre of regional Australia—it's something I'm intensely proud of, that Toowoomba has become a place of refuge for these people. It's a legacy that I think the Liberal Party can reflect on with some pride, thinking back to those terribly dark days when the Yazidi people were being horrifically treated in their homeland by ISIS.

When speaking of the 10th anniversary of that terrible historical event, I don't want to go into the depths of what they faced. It's sufficient for us all to note that their homeland became their hell. I'm very proud that Australia was in a situation to be able to reach out to people in desperate need and extend the hand of friendship and love and give them a new home here in Australia. In Toowoomba, we became a place of refuge. What has been extraordinary is that, since those first days, we have had secondary settlement come to Toowoomba in waves. We now have somewhere around 7,000 years Yazidi people living in Toowoomba, the largest regional capital. It's great to see that they have chosen this as their home and they have found safety, security and friendship in our great city. I think this is an important legacy for us to reflect on on this side of the parliament. It was under Tony Abbott that that decision was made. It was on our leader Peter Dutton, as our then immigration minister, to ensure that those people came here.

I think what's important for us in acknowledging the extreme trauma that the Yazidi people went through is that, having taken these new friends into our hearts and made them part of our nation, we continue to help their settlement. We are talking about a cohort of new Australians who experienced trauma far beyond what the human mind can imagine. In remembering those days, I think it's important that we set ourselves forward for what the next 10 years will look like, to make sure that we reach out to the Yazidi Australians and say, 'Hey, look, we understand this is going to be tough—this has been tough—and we'll continue to find ways to work with you.'

I have been very happy that, in my community, my predecessor, John McVeigh, sought specific funding to help with that resettlement process, understanding that many of these people did not have a written language and did not have an understanding of how to integrate into our society. The mechanisms that we might use for other cultures were not working, and we had to find new ways to make that work. Having brought them here, it's our responsibility to make sure that they do settle and they are given every opportunity. I've continued that fight to continue that funding. I think it's important to point out that, when we extended that hand of friendship, it was with very strong borders. It was with a view that the full processes would be applied. I speak to particularly the younger Yazidis who remember going through that process and how tough it was, sometimes going to a third country and waiting over a year for their visas to come through and how tough that process was but how grateful they are to be with us. I think it's important on this anniversary to say: after all you've been through, we are grateful you've joined us. You've made us a better country. Your hard work and effort is something that we reflect on with great pride. I look forward in 10 years time to saying how well you've settled.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

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

I preface my comments by saying that I am speaking here in the place of the member for Wills, who can't be here today, for family reasons. He very much wanted to put on the record his support for the Yazidi people both here and also in the Middle East. I just wanted to put on the record that he is a champion of human rights issues in that part of the world and more broadly. I'm sure that the comments I make today are broadly in alignment with what he would have said. I also acknowledge the mover of the motion, the member for Groom, and just say that it's important as local members that we bring to this chamber the issues that are important to groups in our community who have gone through very difficult times. In my community there are not a lot of people of Yazidi background, but there are people from the Chin community and the Tigrayan community who have been through very similar experiences. So I want to acknowledge the sentiment, and I very much support the fact that the Yazidi community in Australia and, in particular, in Toowoomba, which has the largest such community, deserves acknowledgement of all they've been through, as well as support.

My understanding is that there are around 700,000 Yazidis around the world. Most are living in northern Iraq, in and around Sinjar. I want to make the point that that is a region of the world where, at the moment, there is a great degree of polarisation, a great degree of conflict and, in many ways, a great degree of intolerance. It hasn't always been like that. The Yazidi people have an ancient religion, but one that differs from other religions celebrated in that part of the world, and that has led to tension of late. It is very unfortunate, it goes without saying, that we are going through a period not just in that part of the world but also in the rest of the world where intolerance is leading to the kinds of horrific incidents that we remember occurring 10 years ago. The slaughter of innocent people that occurred in August 2014, when the Daesh attacked the Yazidi people, is something we must do everything we can to prevent. And, of course, we need to provide as much support as we can to the people adversely affected by such acts.

Indeed, the Australian government has continued to support the rights of the Yazidi people to live in safety and security throughout Iraq and Syria. But it has also continued to support people seeking refuge in Australia—people with family connections and people seeking to avoid extremely dangerous situations in northern Iraq or Syria. As the previous speaker, the member for Durack, mentioned, we acknowledge the horrific experiences that people went through a decade ago. They would remain with the many Yazidi people here in Australia, who now live in a much more peaceful and secure environment. But some of those acts will haunt people forever. So it's critical that we continue to support people that have been through such horrific situations.

Australia continues to advocate for the rights of Yazidis in Iraq, and we do this at the highest level. For example, in August 2024, Australia's ambassador to Iraq attended a commemoration in Baghdad and issued a statement to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sinjar massacre. We continue to monitor the Iraqi government's efforts to achieve justice for the Yazidi government. We also continue to advocate, at the highest levels, the importance of preventing violence and hate speech against minorities.

We also continue to support the Yazidi community through our offshore humanitarian program. Between July 2014 and September 2024, over 7,200 offshore humanitarian visas were granted to Yazidis located in Iraq and Turkiye, focused particularly on Yazidi women—as well as their immediate families—who often endured appalling conditions in captivity under the Daesh.

I want to reiterate the acknowledgement of all that the Yazidi people have gone through, and this government and this parliament's continued support for them.

David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

While I do not agree with all the elements of the motion moved by the member for Groom, I do wish to commend the contributions made by members to this debate, and I commend the member for Groom for representing the concerns of an important community within his electorate.

The day of 3 August 2014 was one of unimaginable horror for the Yazidi people living in Sinjar in north-western Iraq. Over the following days and months up to 400,000 people were displaced and countless people were trafficked, kidnapped or killed. Those who survived were forcibly transferred to bordering countries as slaves or were trained to fight, against their will. The United Nations documented that over 5,000 Yazidis were killed and over 11,000 women and girls were trafficked throughout Iraq and Syria. Ten years on, thousands are still missing.

Earlier this year, the UN's investigative team to promote accountability for crimes committed by Daesh released a report concluding that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide were committed by the militant group during their 2014 offensive. Since the outbreak of war in 2014, successive Australian governments have provided humanitarian support to the Yazidi diaspora who now call our country home. We recognise the importance of and the need for justice for the Yazidi people. Persecution has been a painful yet consistent theme for the Yazidi. Their resilience means they have survived countless attempts, spanning across centuries, to wipe them and their faith from history.

Two of Australia's greatest attributes are its multiculturalism and its helping of those in need. Australia heeded the call to help, and since 2014 the government has granted thousands of offshore humanitarian visas to Yazidis from Iraq, Syria and Turkiye. The government's offshore humanitarian program has focused particularly on women and children, as well as on their immediate families. The government is committed to the families of those who have resettled in Australia.

Fast forward a decade from that terrible day in Sinjar and much has changed for those who've settled here. There are regional hubs, like that in Toowoomba in the division of Groom, which is now home to one of the largest Yazidi communities in the country. While we may not agree on everything in the motion being put before the House, I admire the member for Groom for strongly advocating for his constituents in this place. Kurdish Kurmanji, their traditional dialect, is the second-most spoken language in the region. Those who have settled here have not only embraced this new opportunity; they are giving back to the communities that assisted them when they first arrived.

For those who did resettle here, there's an understanding of feeling happy and safe, yet equally, understandably, there's concern for their families and friends who remain at risk of ongoing persecution. Many members of the Yazidi diaspora living in Australia have shared their often-horrifying experiences, and, while opening our doors to them was life changing, concerns linger for the safety of their family members, either missing or unable to join them here in Australia. Stories like these reinforce why the government is providing 20,000 visas through our humanitarian visa program for the 2024-2025 period, ensuring we can permanently resettle and protect in Australia those most in need from around the world.

The Australian government fully supports the right of Yazidis to live in safety and security throughout Iraq and Syria. We acknowledge the horrific experiences of sexual slavery, torture, mass murder and brutality experienced by the Yazidi communities in Iraq and Syria at the hands of Daesh. We stand united with the Yazidi community, and we'll continue to advocate for their rights, and for justice, and to monitor the efforts of the Iraqi government to achieve justice for the Yazidi community following that unthinkable violence in 2014.

The Australian government also continues to advocate to Iraq the importance of preventing violence and hate speech against minorities and of implementing Iraq's laws governing the protection of all minorities, with our ambassador to Iraq recently attending a commemoration in Baghdad and issuing a statement to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sinjar massacre. In that statement, the ambassador noted that 3 August was 'the 10th anniversary of the Sinjar massacre in Iraq, which marked the beginning of a series of atrocities suffered by the Yazidi people at the hands of Daesh. The Yazidi community faced unthinkable violence, forced displacement and sexual violence. We mourn those lost and honour those who carry forward their memories and culture. We admire the resilience and strength of the Yazidi community, including those that now call Australia home.'

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.