Page 2512 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 August 2017
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Mr Mustafa Ehsan, a Hazara refugee from Iran and the 2017 Young Canberra Citizen of the Year, spoke at the breakfast. He spoke movingly of his work with young refugees and asylum seekers, including his ongoing determination to include all Canberrans through sport and social mentoring. I had the opportunity to see his work in action at the Multicultural Youth Services “Refugee World Cup” at Hawker Football Centre.
The ACT government has a strong commitment to supporting refugees and other newly arrived Canberrans. As part of this commitment, as members would be aware, the ACT became a refugee welcome zone in 2015. As part of Refugee Week this year the ACT played host to a forum of 50 refugee welcome zones to work on ways to better support refugees in our communities. The forum discussed issues such as role models, how to counter negative stereotypes, local government leadership, fostering engagement, and social cohesion.
Amongst all of the activities of the week, one of the real highlights was the awarding of the Canberra Refugee Support Scholarships. At the ceremony I had the opportunity to hear from Canberra students with asylum seeker or refugee backgrounds, to hear of their personal aspirations, their stories and their vision for their future life in our city. At each and every one of these events the strength of our diverse community and the value of multiculturalism—including some of our newest communities—were on display. At each event I met new Canberrans whom our country should be proud to claim as new citizens. We should be welcoming their full participation in our community, not making it harder as the federal Liberal government is currently seeking to do.
It was also a privilege to be able to join our oldest community, our first peoples, to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander history, culture and achievements in NAIDOC week. The NAIDOC theme for this year, “Our languages matter”, aimed to emphasise and celebrate the unique and essential role that Indigenous languages play in cultural identity, linking people to their land and water, and in the transmission of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander history, spirituality and rites through story and song. Some 250 distinct Indigenous language groups covered the continent at the time of significant European contact in the late 18th century. Today only 120 of those languages are still spoken and many are at risk of being lost as elders pass on.
I was able to attend a number of events held throughout NAIDOC Week, including the Canberra and district NAIDOC Aboriginal corporation ball, NAIDOC family days at Belconnen and the University of Canberra, and the 2017 NAIDOC Community Art Exhibition. At all of these events the strength of our local community and the ongoing cultural connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans were proudly on display. I thank and congratulate the organisers of all of these events.
I am looking forward to joining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families tomorrow at the West Belconnen Child and Family Centre to celebrate National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day at their bush tucker garden. This day is not only a time for these families to celebrate the strengths and culture of their
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