Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two sitting weeks ago it was my pleasure to join colleagues to launch the Parliamentary Friends of Hazara group. I'm honoured to be a co-chair of this group, along with Mr Andrew Charlton and Ms Kylea Tink from the other place. I look forward to working with them and all members of the Parliamentary Friends O Hazara to raise issues of concern to Hazara people and to magnify Hazara voices in this place. The Hazara have faced many generations of religious and ethnic persecution, the seizure of lands, enslavement and genocide in their beautiful home region of Hazaristan in central Afghanistan. About one in four Hazara have been forced to flee their homelands, and they are now scattered in a great diaspora around the world, including 60,000 who now call Australia home and enrich our community and contribute massively to our country. But persecution is not what defines Hazara people. They are a culture of musicians, poets and artisans inspired by a rich oral history and a connection to place.

Since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the persecution of Hazara in Afghanistan has ramped up again. Now is not the time for Australia to turn its back on Hazara people, but the Labor government has quietly abandoned the processing of refugee applications for potentially thousands of Hazara people trapped in Afghanistan, many of whom have family here in Australia. As a leading immigration lawyer told SBS News recently, Labor is wiping its hands of the Afghanistan problem. Make no mistake, this is an abrogation that will cost lives, including Hazara lives. I commend the group to the Senate, and look forward to working to raise the voices of Hazara people in this place. (Time expired)