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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
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INTERNMENT CAMPS

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (11:31): I move:

That this house:

(a) notes that 1 June 2011 marked the 70th anniversary of the opening of the internment camps at Loveday during the Second World War for the purpose of detaining 'enemy aliens' and prisoners of war;

(b) acknowledges that amongst the 'enemy aliens' interned were people who were either permanent Australia residents, born in Australia or had become British subjects in accordance with the federal immigration and citizenship laws of the day;

(c) accepts that the overwhelming majority of the people interned at the camps were law abiding, had made a valuable contribution to Australian society and posed no threat to the security of the nation or its people;

(d) believes that most people were primarily interned in the camps on the basis of their cultural heritage on the mistaken belief that it posed an unreasonable risk, and not for any demonstrated or validated criminal or security concerns;

(e) is aware of research and personal histories that demonstrate that the internment experience had a long term detrimental impact on the health and welfare of many of the people interned;

(f) recognises the pain, suffering, grief, and hardship experienced by the people who were interned and their families and, in particular, the impact on mothers and wives who were left to care for children, homes, farms or businesses without government assistance;

(g) congratulates those internees and their families who made the decision to remain in Australia and rebuild their lives following their internment;

(h) celebrates the lives of those former internees and families who, despite their internment experiences, went on to make a significant contribution to the economic, social and cultural development of Australia;

(i) asserts that, while the internment policy was implemented in the circumstances of a national emergency, it nevertheless acknowledges that the injustice experienced by some Australians was unnecessary and avoidable; and

(j) hopes that as a maturing nation we have learnt from the World War II internment experience to ensure that future generations of migrants to this country are treated with justice and equality before the law and are not discriminated against on the sole basis of their cultural heritage.

Tomorrow we remember those who have given their life in the service of their country, and the grief felt by their families. My heart goes out to all those people affected by war; in particular, the returned services men and women and their families.

War affects people in different ways. Today I wish to bring to the attention of the house the experiences of another group of people whose lives were also affected by the war but whose story has yet to be recorded in any meaningful way in the history books written about Australia. While World War II impacted on millions of people from Europe to the Pacific, today I would like to talk about the relatively untold story of thousands of Italo-Australians right here on our shores.

While this motion is relevant for all those who were interned—whether of Italian, German or Japanese backgrounds, amongst others—my speech will address the Italo-Australian community, as that is the one I most familiar with. However, in doing so I do not wish to diminish in any way the experience of other migrant groups.

Across Australia 16,757 people were interned in camps during World War II at Cowra, Gaythorne, Harvey, Hay, Liverpool, Rottnest Island, Tatura, and here in South Australia at Loveday. Of these 16,757 internees 4,727 were Italo-Australians, or one-tenth of the Italian population, who were sent to internment camps. This included 2,107 from Queensland, 1,346 from Western Australia, 170 from Victoria, 65 from Tasmania, 806 from New South Wales and 173 from South Australia. Many of these people were falsely accused of being fascist sympathisers when, in fact, their opposition to that political ideology was one of the reasons they actually left Italy.

While we should recognise the circumstances of a national emergency when the internment policy was enacted, this nevertheless does not in any way diminish or justify the suffering caused. It is time we acknowledged that the wartime internment policy was a mistake, and recognise the impact it had on thousands of individuals and their families. It is time we acknowledged the ongoing hurt and suffering felt by the internees and their families.

It is time we acknowledged the trauma, pain and personal anxiety that the separation caused. It is time we acknowledged the personal embarrassment and loss of dignity that internees were forced to endure. It is time we acknowledged the humiliation felt by internees in front of their family, friends and neighbours when their houses and offices were ransacked, leaving lifelong scars, and it is time we acknowledged the women and children who were left to fend for themselves in a hostile environment.

Many internees were sent to the Loveday camp near Barmera in South Australia. Established in 1941, Loveday held the largest number of internees during World War II. At is peak in May 1943, there were nearly 5,500 internees in the camp and over 1,500 army personnel. While there were only 173 internees from South Australia, the local Italian population was heavily affected. I visited Loveday for myself and was able to see the camp, learn more about the history and meet some of the families and relatives of internees.

When Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940, the lives of many migrants to this country changed forever, despite them having no connection to the war in Europe and elsewhere. Amongst the internees were not only permanent residents but also citizens of Australia. Researcher Ilma O'Brien has posed the question of the meaning and value of citizenship when citizens can be arbitrarily detained for long periods of time with no recourse to the courts. The majority of people interned at the camps were law-abiding, making a valuable contribution to Australian society, and posed no threat to the security of the nation or its people.

Most Italo-Australians were primarily interned in the camps on the basis of their cultural heritage and not for any substantiated criminal or security concerns. The heightened level of insecurity resulted in many migrants being interned on weak and unsubstantiated intelligence information. Membership of, or association with, a fascist organisation was sufficient grounds for internment. While on the face of it this seems like a reasonable reaction, when you delve into the issue more deeply and rationally you soon come to realise what an unreasonable response it was. Many of the Italians saw their membership of a fascist-related organisation—

The SPEAKER: Order! Could members please keep the background noise down?

Mr PICCOLO: —as a social activity rather than a political one. Many Italians were not formal fascist members and attended events for their social and cultural benefits rather than political affiliation.

The Molfettesi community of Port Pirie is an example. They made up 12 per cent of the South Australian Italian population, yet accounted for 47 per cent of the state's internees. The Molfettesi were hardworking people, mainly fishermen, of southern Italian origin, but the state was concerned they would actually bring their secrets offshore.

The manner in which people were rounded up was often crude and embarrassing, reminiscent of the European theatre of war. Police knocked on the door and arrested people without proper justification. People were dragged away in front of their families or co-workers. Men were shoved into open trucks like cattle, marched onto trains and transported thousands of miles away from their families and homes. They were thrown into prison cells and temporary camps and the internment was unedifying and humiliating, stripping them of their dignity. Many internees never returned to their home towns in Australia to avoid the shame.

While it does not appear that Italian women were actually interned in South Australia, many recall the war years as lonely times of fear and hardship, with many suffering poor physical health and depression. They were left to take care of children, families and businesses and deal with the hardship of being identified as an enemy alien.

A few original internees are still alive today. I have had the pleasure of meeting two of them and I would like to briefly outline their stories. The first I met was Tommaso (Tom) D'Orsogna. Tom, now aged 93, spent four years, four months and two days in internment camps during World War II, on Rottnest Island, at Harvey, and then at Loveday.

Tom was born in Italy in 1918 and came to Australia aged 15 in 1933, where he worked on the mines in northern Western Australia at Wiluna. There he secured a job with the Wiluna Meat Supply, where he began developing his skills in making smallgoods, which later formed the basis of the successful D'Orsogna family business, which today is a leading smallgoods manufacturer based in Western Australia with 450 employees.

When war was declared with Italy on 10 June 1940, Tom was working at the gold mines at Wiluna. He was down the mine shaft when the police arrived to round up all the Italians on the site, including his brothers. Tom was put in a truck with half a dozen other Italians who had all been arrested and they were still covered in dirt from their work in the mine shaft. Without any reason, they were arrested and put on trucks. Tom was destined for the Harvey internment camp, but spent some time on Rottnest Island first.

The second internee I met is Natale Ieraci. His story is very similar to Tom's; in fact, they know each other. Natale arrived in Australia in 1939. He is now aged 90. Prior to the outbreak of the war he worked on a potato farm in Western Australia. During the war the police came and took him away. He was put on a truck with about 40 other Italian people. He too spent time at Rottnest Island, Harvey and Loveday.

After the war, Natale tried his hand at a number of jobs. He went to work with the Plaistowe Chocolate Factory, Lamberti Restaurant and as a chef at the Sirros Nightclub in Collins Place, Melbourne. He then went back to Italy to visit family, married and returned to establish his own business—Campoli Continental Foods. This family company has been very successful and today boasts 65 employees. At 90, he still goes to work every day. Despite their experiences, these two people have found success in Australia.

I have also had the opportunity to talk to some family members of those who were interned. There is a Gawler-belt resident in my electorate, Mario Vaiana, whose father was interned in northern Queensland. Despite being a British subject at the time, he too was sent to Loveday. Mario tells the story of how his father never spoke about the internment, yet it was quite clear from the way he related to his father that it left a mark on his life.

There is also the story of Pietro Cesare Padovan who was born in Italy as well and came to Australia. At the beginning of World War II, Peter was interned. He was marched into the camp at Tatura on 17 June 1940 and was later moved to Hay, Liverpool and Loveday. His wife was left behind with three children. They had to be put into a convent because she could not care for them.

There is the story of Pasquale Ganza, who was born in Italy in 1906 and came to Australia at the age of 21. He headed off to Ingham where there was a lot of work to be found. From 1932, he ran a hotel with his brother at Trebourne and, in 1938, started working at the Mount Fox sawmills, where he cut silk wood, oak and gum trees. Despite being a resident of Australia for 13 years, he was interned without notice in 1942. Despite his protestations, he was actually interned because he was seen to be sympathetic to the fascist cause.

In these camps, unfortunately, the authorities thought all Italians were the same. The killing of Mr Francesco Fantin at Loveday brings back memories for those many internees who saw one of their own killed. Mr Fantin's killing reflected the authorities' view that all Italians were the same. In reality, they were as diverse as any other community. His death did lead to changes in the management of internees, recognising that they all held various diverse political views.

However, for Pasquale, he was so ashamed of his internment that he legally changed his name to Percy to distance himself from the experience. He only spoke once about his internment to his family, which is a common theme for many of those who have been interned.

There are a number of stories which can be told but time does not permit me today. What is common is that these people have not been able to tell their story until recent times. In fact, they have not even discussed it with members of the family as they are so ashamed and hurt by the experience.

Having said that, the evidence also suggests that, in the camps, the guards and the internees got along quite well. I have two families in my own electorate whose fathers were guards and they actually have good stories to tell about their time in internment.

This motion is not the first resolution to recognise the treatment of Italians during World War II in Australia. In 1990, the late Liberal senator for Western Australia, John Panizza, put a motion before the federal parliament to recognise internees. His five-part motion noted the grave injustices, the false accusations of fascism and the suffering of the innocent. The motion received bipartisan support, and I hope this motion does today. The then prime minister, the Hon. Bob Hawke AC, in a letter to internees, said at the time:

I am proud to state that your mistaken internment in the 1940s was based on community attitudes of the time and would not occur in the multicultural Australia of 1991.

I hope he was right.

The story of internees has been documented by various researchers but, generally, has not been discussed in the public arena—that is changing. Time has created the space to allow the stories to be told without fear and to be heard with empathy and understanding. In this regard I would like to mention the short film Restare Uniti, which translates as 'We stick together.' Producer and writer Daniel Tenni has drawn together an impressive package which is a confronting representation of internment experiences. The short film, which has its origins at Curtin University, has had considerable international and national critical success, and there are plans to extend it to a full-length feature film.

With the influx of post-war Italian migration to Australia, this period in Australia's history seems like ancient history, but it should in no way diminish the unfair treatment of Italo-Australians during the war period. For many years, internees were not able to speak about their experiences in the camps, as the memories were too raw. As a consequence, neither their families nor the nation has had the benefit of learning the lessons from that policy. Even today, some family members cannot talk about their memories without emotion.

This motion acknowledges their experience of grief. As the years passed and internees moved on to rebuild their lives, their stories have slipped between the pages of history. I hope that this house today helps put that part of their story on the record. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (11:46): I also commend the member for bringing this matter to the house and give him the full support of members on this side of the chamber in his wish to acknowledge, to accept, to indicate our belief in and our awareness of the pain and suffering of all those who were interned unjustly during World War II. It is a time to celebrate the lives of those who survived the war, including those who survived the terrible internships.

The member has given the house an accurate account of the suffering of the Italians in Loveday who were treated so terribly as a consequence of war. Of course, these were terrible times for the country and terrible times for the world. From all of those experiences we endured during World War II, including this example of pain and suffering, there are lessons to be learned for the future.

During the Second World War, Australia, indeed, interned thousands of men, women and children deemed to be a threat to national security. The overwhelming majority of the internees had been classed as 'enemy aliens', that is, nationals of countries at war with Australia. Australian internment camps also accommodated enemy aliens interned by British authorities in Palestine, Persia, the Straits Settlement and Great Britain and transported to Australia.

Of course, there had been a precedent during World War I. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, the Australian parliament passed the War Precautions Act 1914, which granted far-reaching powers to the military authorities. These included the power to intern aliens. In 1939, two days after Germany invaded Poland, prime minister Robert Menzies announced that Australia had declared war on Germany. Anticipating the war, the security services had prepared a list of potentially dangerous Australian residents. Many of these people were arrested within days of the beginning of the war and interned.

The number of enemy aliens resident in Australia in September 1939 far outweighed the number of those resident in Australia at the beginning of World War I. Not least because of the costs associated with large-scale internment, the Menzies government initially decided to adopt a more selective internment policy than its World War I predecessor. Only some 400 enemy aliens were rounded up in the first weeks. Most of them were Germans suspected of strong Nazi sympathies. They included only seven women and no children. But, as the military situation worsened, the Australian government authorised the internment of larger numbers of enemy aliens. Most of them were German and Italian nationals.

After Japan entered World War II in spectacular fashion with the surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor, yet more people who could be suspected of aiding the enemy were locked up. A total of 1,141 local Japanese men, women and children were interned, representing 97 per cent of all registered aliens of Japanese descent living in Australia. In comparison, less than a third of Australians of Italian and German descent were interned during World War II. With the notable exception of Japanese nationals, internment during World War II was not as comprehensive as it had been during World War I, but it was still vicious.

Australia also accommodated internees from the United Kingdom and from the Dutch, British and French colonies in the Pacific and South-East Asia. A total of 8,000 overseas internees were accommodated. As the member has noted to the house, the South Australian story is particularly sad. Our main camp located at Loveday near Barmera on the River Murray was supported by control centres at Bordertown, Clare, Lameroo, Maitland, Mount Gambier, Mount Pleasant, Morgan, Murray Bridge, Naracoorte, Tumby Bay, Willunga and Woodside, and a transit camp at Sandy Creek near Adelaide.

Italians deployed as farm labourers were administered from these centres. In addition, Italian and Japanese internees were detached as paid labour to harvest wood at Katarapko, Woolenook and Moorook West, and 300 Italian internees were employed as railway workers at Cook on the Trans-Australian line. This was a matter that touched the whole state.

The Loveday internment camp accommodated German, Italian and Japanese internees from various states of Australia, and internees and prisoners of war from the Netherlands, East Indies and the other countries I have mentioned. The camp comprised six compounds and accommodated people of the 25/33 Garrison Battalion who provided the camp guard. The maximum number of internees (almost 4,000) was reached in March 1942. Of those interned in 1942, 528 were Japanese who were subsequently repatriated to Japan. One POW and 134 internees died at Loveday.

It is a very, very sad story but in the context of an even sadder global story. We need to remember that, at this very time, millions of Jewish people were being rounded up into concentration camps and being exterminated in ovens. We need to remember the persecution of minorities by the Nazis and by others. We need to remember the suffering of soldiers on all sides of this conflict. We need to remember that, in countries like Poland, 20 per cent of the population at the end of the war was dead—20 per cent of the people living in the country in 1939 were no longer alive by war's end.

We need to remember the bitterness, the sadness and the evil of those years, and we need to view the terrible events of internment in Australia in that global context. Having just returned some weeks ago from walking the Kokoda Track, I was proud to see the number of Italian and Greek names amongst the dead. At the very time we were interning their mothers and fathers, some of these young boys were fighting.

It is a terrible thing to be torn between your family, between the love for your country of birth and between the love for your adopted country and your country of citizenship. It is like a civil war—a civil war of the heart. Many of those interned at Loveday were so torn. We need also to remember, though, that there were terrible collaborations in occupied countries. There were terrible acts of sabotage and of espionage, and there was fear, and fear begets horrors and inhumanity.

In all of this we need to look for a positive, and that is why I welcome the member's motion, and that is why members on this side embrace it, because even today we are still living with these fears. We live in a world awash with terrorism, and there are people who would hate a particular ethnic or religious group or community within this country and others by virtue of their ethnicity because they think that, because those people are Middle Eastern or Muslim, or whatever the case may be, they must be linked to the terrorism.

That is no more true than the conclusion reached by our forefathers during World War II, that because people were Italian or Japanese or German they were linked with the evil of Nazism and the occupying armies of World War II. Just like us, they loved their families, they loved Australia and they wanted to be free.

If there is a positive lesson to be drawn from this motion, it is a lesson to embrace cultural diversity, to accept one another, to understand that this is a great nation comprised of great people and that when this country faces challenges, shocks and horrors as we did during World War II, we should not fly to take it out on any particular group in the community based on ethnicity or religion or birth.

We must focus on people's actions and what they stand for and not their place of birth or their ethnicity. I think that is the positive message that we can draw from this. Proud as we are of our Italian, Greek and Japanese communities within this great nation, through passing this motion unanimously we share their grief, we understand their pain, we recognise their suffering and we draw strength from the lesson of the entire experience for the future. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (11:56): I, too, rise to support the motion and to commend the member for Light for bringing this important but relatively unknown part of South Australia's past to the attention of the house. The Loveday Internment Camp represents a dark chapter in the annals of the nation's wartime history. The forced internment of so-called enemy aliens was deemed as an essential security measure in wartime. It was a practice which took place not only in Australia but in almost every combatant country during the Second World War. The tragedy was that it was unnecessary and that it had a lasting detrimental effect on many of the internees and their families who were in no way a threat to Australia's security.

The Loveday Internment Camp, built to house not only internees from Australia but also Britain, was opened in 1941 and closed in 1946. In that time, many thousands of internees were detained there, and in 1943 there were about 5,500 internees and 1,500 personnel at the main camp and a number of scattered work camps. The camp played a major but not well-known role in the development of the Riverland region.

Very little remains of the Loveday Internment Camp. When it closed, many of the buildings were sold and, sadly, the land was subdivided. I have toured the area many times, but particularly earlier this year I viewed a few of the ruined cell blocks located on private properties, and the headquarters buildings are all that remain.

It is through the tireless efforts of a handful of Chaffey constituents that this part of our history is being preserved and brought to life. I note the efforts of the Loveday Internment Camp Museum Steering Committee and its chair, Riverland historian Rosemary Gower. Ms Gower, with the assistance of many other people and a range of organisations, has been collecting artefacts, live footage and photographs for more than 25 years. These have often been on display at the Cobdogla Irrigation and Steam Museum.

The steering committee is now working on the establishment of a dedicated museum at the old headquarters building in the Loveday area. With the assistance of organisations, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Berri Barmera Council, Regional Development Australia and the RSL, it is hoped that this museum will be established soon. Ms Gower is also negotiating with the Department for Education and Child Development to conduct information sessions about the internment camp to selected schools in the Riverland. I consider that there are many ways the government can assist in the efforts of Ms Gower and the steering committee and I urge them to do so. The committee will need considerable funding and in-kind support.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:59): I also rise to support the member for Light's motion and acknowledge his comments in his speech and the comments of the members for Waite and Chaffey. It was a period in Australia's history when, like the rest of the world, people were nervous and many good people were put into internment camps around the world. It is good that we now, some 70-odd years later, recognise the things that happened and try to make some peace with our past. I would also suggest—and I think the member for Light would support me—if you were going to be interned as a so-called enemy alien, you were far better off being interned in Australia than elsewhere around the world. Indeed, I read a book recently on the Japanese nationals and people of Japanese ethnic origin who were interned in the United States after Pearl Harbor, and it was an absolutely horrendous story. It is worth your while reading it.

Interestingly enough, as things turn out, the Loveday camp has a relationship to my electorate because much of the Loveday camp was actually pulled down because of a lack of resources, taken to Kangaroo Island and turned into the Parndana camp for the war settlement scheme—the land development executive—at Parndana, which I recall. There are many photos of it around.

The camp was a very basic place, and those buildings that the former soldier settlers—whether they came from Navy, Army, or Air Force was irrelevant: they were called soldier settlers—lived in were what was formerly used by the internees at Loveday. I am not sure whether the member for Light was aware of that, but there are photos around of the buildings that were reassembled.

I think it is appropriate that we support it, and I have no doubt that the house will unanimously support this motion, member for Light, and there are possibly other members who want to make contributions. But they were terrible times, and, indeed, around the world now there are terrible times. There are people imprisoned around the world now; there are internees in their own countries.

The Kurds have suffered in places, and the Koreans suffer in Thailand and Burma particularly. They are imprisoned and, unfortunately, while humanity does some wonderful things, it also does some damn stupid and terrible things from time to time, and I guess as long as we walk this earth it will continue to happen. With those few brief words, I would once again like to support the member for Light's motion.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:02): I support this motion because, whilst this was something that happened in our past, I think it is important that people should know the history of their land and of this state. Wise people have often said that if you do not know your past you will not have long in the future, because you will not learn from the past.

I think it is understandable—and the member for Finniss made this point—that if you were going to be interned, it was a lot better to be interned here than probably most other places throughout the world. Certainly, many of our soldiers in World War II interned in POW camps did not survive and were subjected to brutal treatment. It is not surprising that, as a result of that, there have been long-lasting hatreds towards especially the Japanese and to a lesser extent towards the Germans.

I do not believe anyone really wins as a result of any war. I think the highest achievement of anyone in elected office is to avoid what I would call unnecessary wars. Sometimes you have to fight to protect yourself but, in many cases, wars are not fought on the grounds of self defence. They are fought for other reasons. If members look back beyond World War II, they will see that a lot of the people in the German community in South Australia (the Lutherans who came from Silesia because they were persecuted) got a pretty rough ride in World War I.

In fact members would know that the names of many of our towns were changed to remove any suggestion that they had any German connection. There was quite obvious and quite explicit hatred. They had slogans like 'Hate the Hun' and all this sort of stuff and pictures of German soldiers bayoneting pregnant women—all those emotive type messages intended to intensify the hatred and obviously engender local support. In my own family, my uncle, who was part of 2/27 Battalion, was killed in New Guinea. As a result of that, my grandparents always had a deep hatred of the Japanese and would not buy anything that was remotely connected with Japan or its people.

Over time, we tend to get things in perspective; the hatred diminishes, and the dislike diminishes. There is not point in maintaining it because all it does is run the risk of further conflict down the path. It is diminishing but, sadly, amongst some of our communities in South Australia, there is still a deep and abiding dislike (and, in some cases, hatred) of other ethnic communities because of what has happened in the past.

It is important that those communities and the total community move on. I have argued this before, but in my view we do not have a multicultural society; what we have is a multicultural process, which is really based on tolerance and acceptance of people who come from different backgrounds, and who have contributed significantly to the society and nation we are today. I can understand why people were interned during World War II. It looks harsh looking back now, but I can understand why it was done.

I think people should not forget that the federal government runs pretty severe internment policies now. We are locking up people, 95 per cent of whom will never be sent back. They will be accepted and become part of our community, yet they are being put through a system where many of them will have their mental health affected forever. We should not be too smug and say, 'Look, this happened years ago; it was a bad thing.' We can say that, but we also need to remind ourselves that we are currently treating other human beings in a way which I think is inappropriate and excessively harsh.

If we have people from overseas we suspect are a security risk, or at risk of committing a crime, we have ways and means of keeping an eye on them. We do not have to lock them up, or their families, and incarcerate them for years on end, and literally cause serious mental illness. I do not think we have advanced as far as we might like to think we have in terms of how we treat people humanely and appropriately.

I think this is a good motion; it reminds us of part of our history. Sadly, very little of our history is taught in any of our schools today. I think if you asked most young people whether they knew about the internment of people in World War II, they would not know what you were talking about, and they probably would not know that during World War I anyone of German background in South Australia and Australia was treated pretty harshly.

I commend the member for Light for reminding us of this part of our history and what has come out of it, and let's make it a celebration of the positive aspect of the contribution of these people, many of whom migrated to Australia—even, I guess, before it became Australia—and were worthwhile and good citizens long before World War II, and in many cases, even before World War I. I commend this motion, and I intend to support it.

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (12:08): As the shadow minister for veterans' affairs, I rise to support this motion and commend the member for Light for bringing it to the house. The main comments have been made in the excellent speech by the member for Waite. His knowledge of military history is extensive, as is his experience of military service.

It is also interesting to learn a bit more about our history from other members in this place, such as the member for Finniss, who has the connection with Kangaroo Island, and also obviously the member for Chaffey, in whose electorate Loveday is situated. The comments of the member for Fisher are also very important in highlighting how we are treating Australians today. I remember debating the anti-terrorism legislation in this place, legislation that was really going to restrict civil rights in South Australia, locking people up incommunicado, basically, for weeks at a time.

So, have we learnt as much as we would have liked to learn from this? The question is there. We should make sure that we are aware of the history, aware of the issues, aware of the long-term problems and consequences of our actions—it is so important. That is why this motion is worthwhile, and I urge all members in this place to support it.

Motion carried.

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