Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite may rail against the Prime Minister’s recent comments regarding integration, but I am sure not only that they have been well received but that they are supported by an overwhelming number of Australians. It needs to be reinforced, as the Prime Minister has stated, that it is important for those who come to Australia to integrate. To integrate means to accept Australian values.

Australia today is a country forged from different cultures and tied by a set of common beliefs and values—a belief in a free and competitive market system, freedom of choice, respect for human life and respect for the rule of law. This means that those who come from societies which are less contemporarily progressive than our own need to have an acceptance of these values and beliefs. And those values and beliefs may be different from those in the country whence they came—for example, equality of men and women.

People who come from societies where women are treated in an inferior manner need to understand that this is not acceptable in Australia. Each person is entitled to full recognition and respect. The promotion of these values and beliefs across the diversity of our contemporary Australian society is vital to our continued social cohesion. When people come from a country with a dissimilar set of values the onus is on them to understand and respect the community that they have chosen to come and live in.

I have lived my life across the diversity that is Australia. And whilst cultural diversity has brought us many advantages, there have also been challenges. When my parents first came to this country they, like many others, experienced difficulties and prejudice. It was a fact of life. They got on with it. They integrated. They shared their culture, traditions and values. They accepted and they became accepted. Through this, they and many others have helped forge the unique Australian way of life that we enjoy today.

At the time my parents came there were no settlement services. Today we afford new migrants much more assistance. We are recognised as one of the world’s best practice countries in respect of the resettlement programs we offer. Each year we spend in excess of half a billion dollars helping people to settle into the Australian community. As a new arrival it is much easier to learn English today than it was in the past. Indeed, as the Prime Minister has said, integration today means not only accepting Australian values but learning English as quickly as possible. The English language is essential to understand the community you live in, and whilst Australia is a nation that boasts a population with over 200 ancestries, which speak over 200 languages, English is the common language that brings us together and allows us to understand one another.

While some seek to gloss over divisions in our society by affirming a desire for harmonious coexistence and religious tolerance, problems do exist. Unfortunately, there is a small section of the Islamic population which is resistant to integration. Indeed, this is clearly of as much concern to its own community as it is to the rest of Australian society. Having spent many years working in our culturally diverse community I know that many Islamic people, like millions of other migrants to Australia, have come to Australia to work hard and build a better life for themselves and their children. They, too, are appalled by the attitude of this small minority.

There are unfortunately some who try and distort these calls for people to fully integrate into the Australian community as some kind of discrimination against them. Australia is a tolerant and compassionate society founded on understanding and respect for social and religious differences. Our success as a culturally diverse society comes from having put our commitment to Australia first. I note that following the Prime Minister’s comments a number of Muslim community leaders complained that Mr Howard had unfairly singled them out at the risk of further marginalising their community. Our response to this should be to reiterate the call for migrants to integrate no matter which country they come from.

The Treasurer echoed the Prime Minister’s sentiments in a recent interview. I share Mr Costello’s concerns that there is a minority in the Islamic community who have been radicalised and have sought to prey upon young people in particular. I support his call. It is very important that the moderate leaders speak out quite plainly and clearly against those radicals. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs has also urged the Muslim leadership to get on the front foot, identify the problems and come up with solutions. Leaders of the Australian Muslim community must step up on this issue to assure the broader Australian community that most Australian Muslims are integrated and committed to the wellbeing of this nation.

Australia has a relatively small Muslim community of some 360,000 people. Most are hardworking, exemplary Australians. Most Australian Muslims respect Australian values and live very comfortably within the broader community. The Australian government recognises and respects the enormous contribution that has been made to the Australian nation through migration. We are a country that has embraced diversity. Our diversity has been our strength.

I am the daughter of migrants to this country and, as Senator Brandis said yesterday, we are very proud that on the coalition side we do have the diversity that those opposite lack. As the first woman into this Senate of Italian origin, I am indeed proud of our cultural diversity, as I am sure Senator Bernardi, Senator Santoro and others on our side are equally proud of their heritage. On my first day at school I did not speak a word of English. It was important for my parents and for their integration into Australian society that I did learn how to speak English. Today I am proudly completely bilingual and I think that I, like many people in our Australian community, have benefited from the cultural diversity of our roots. We have shared that cultural diversity, but first and foremost our commitment has been to this great country that has embraced millions of migrants like my parents.

Indeed, there have been almost seven million migrants welcomed into the Australian community since the Second World War. Together we have forged the great Australian society that we have today and the Australian society that is welcoming to people from other countries in the world. But one thing that my 25 years of involvement have taught me, particularly in the broader community, is that what is so important for their integration is not only the speaking of the English language but the acceptance of the values and beliefs of many of the communities that have come here, which are now mainstream—the strength of the family and the strength of their religion. Our cultural diversity has indeed been our strength.