Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight it is my privilege and pleasure to read out a few speeches from talented and diverse young people in New South Wales, submitted through the Raise Our Voice in Parliament campaign. Ava Koshab, a 13-year-old, shared concerns about climate. Ava writes:

I earnestly believe that climate change is one of the most severe challenges facing Australia today. Though climate change will affect all Australians, it has been evident over the decades that First Nations communities that are disproportionately impacted by the disaster. First Nations peoples have had their sacred sites and resources destroyed in order to allow big corporations to dig up fossil fuels. First Nations communities have had no autonomy over these decisions and have never allowed for these tragedies to occur.

I don't believe that it is too late for the government to act, but I do believe that if there is a time to act decisively, it's now. I would like to see parliament-wide agreement in relation to a commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2030, through not only words of sympathy and recognition, but through action.

I implore the Minister for Environment, Tanya Plibersek, to not approve any more fossil fuel projects. I ask that the money that previous governments have spent to destroy this country, now be used to build this country by providing a fair transition into renewable energy, and for job creation for all fossil fuel workers.

Nithurshi Selvarasa, an 11-year-old refugee, has this to say:

My name is Nithurshi, a proud Tamil refugee. I am 11 years old, my electorate is Greenway. The term "Refugee" is used to refer to a person who fled from their country, risking everything and crossing borders to escape persecution.

As a refugee myself, I know that a refugee is more than a word, instead a person with resilience. My own mother fled from Tamil Eelam, her homeland, with a child many in her hands on a tiny boat to Australia with many dire conditions and was still hopeful. However, it's hard for refugees to stay hopeful because of the harsh system in Australia. Refugees don't have many opportunities in comparison to citizens.

For instance, last year, I did the Opportunity Class test and my result was high enough to go to an Opportunity Class school. I wasn't able to go because I'm a refugee. Refugees escape to countries for protection and to turn over a new life. However, refugees face more problems such as being deported months later when arriving in Australia.

The Australian parliament must take action. All refugees deserve freedom as they are human and faced hardships. We deserve permanent visas and no more detention centres. Thank you.

Maximus Pondal, a 16-year-old from Blacktown wrote this:

I've always considered myself Australian. For thirteen years I had never known a place unlike the sparse but vibrant country I was born in. My mother tongue is English, and Tim-Tams are my favourite snack, followed closely by Lamingtons. There is no place like home. But something had always felt a bit off—that sometimes in infrequent but certainly odd occasions I wouldn't get the same treatment compared with the rest of the flock.

It was made obvious throughout the years that I had looked apart—that I was somehow different, distinct or even—at times—foreign. In supermarkets, on the bus, or even on the streets at times, voices of discontent were applied without apparent reason. It would be better to always give the benefit of the doubt—but most of the time it was what you had expected it to be. In the diverse and multicultural country of ours, a relic of the past still lingers on with many of our citizens today.

This shouldn't be happening. Discrimination of all forms, although relatively unnoticed at times, shamefully is treated like business as usual.

Parliament should endeavour in acknowledging the diversity of this country—especially with its traditional custodians and new settlers who to live better than before. It should make steps to eradicate the relics of the past and live up to its anthem that we truly do have boundless plains to share.

I am in awe of these young people. They say it like it is. Our decisions in this place would be so much better and wiser if we started hearing them and acting on what they're asking us to do.