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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-10-31 Daily Xml
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MALALA YOUSAFZAI

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:47): At the beginning of this month, I was shocked to learn of the shooting of a 14-year-old Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, singled out while on the bus taking her home from school. Malala was only 11 when she stood up to those who feel girls should not have access to education. I quote from an article in The Advertiser on 13 October:

Amid public outrage, the Pakistani Taliban—

who had claimed responsibility—

issued a statement seeking to justify the cold-blooded murder attempt on a child, saying Malala had preached secularism 'and so-called enlightened moderation'.

In a democracy such as ours in Australia, we struggle to understand such extreme fundamentalism. Malala came to the world's attention when her diary, written under a pseudonym, was the basis for a series of reports by the local Urdu language service of the BBC about three years ago. In her blog she described what was happening in Swat which was then under Taliban control, when Islamist militants burned girls' schools and terrorised the valley.

Malala received the first national peace award from the Pakistani government last year and was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by advocacy group KidRights Foundation in 2011. In early 2009, Malala spoke out on television, always sticking carefully to her demand only for schooling. In a Pakistani television appearance in Swat with Taliban sympathisers in the audience, the then pre-teen Malala said:

I don't mind if I have to sit on the floor at school. All I want is an education and I am afraid of no-one.

Malala said then that her ambition was to become a politician. Politicians can be agents for change. The shooting, of course, sparked international outrage and highlighted the need to work for rights of women and girls who, in the words of Hillary Clinton:

...struggle against tradition and culture and even outright hostility and, sometimes, violence to pursue their hopes and potential to have a life of meaning and purpose and make contributions to their families, their communities, their countries and the world.

Malala is making a remarkable recovery in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, and I know we all wish her a speedy and full recovery, and a safe future as she continues her struggle for access and equity—things often taken for granted—and ideals that inspire us to represent our communities.

This event has brought more sharply into focus for many the importance of the participatory democracy system by which we are governed and the fragility of democracy in a country where the rule of law is not held as dear. That each of us could become activists on any issue about which we held passionate convictions without fear of violent reprisal illustrates how important Malala's stand is and how important dissent is to the democratic process. When we accept without murmur decisions we know will impact on vulnerable people and disadvantage those already disadvantaged, it is time to remember people like Malala.

All over the world, people struggle for a better existence and draw a line in the sand, often at terrible personal cost. Even to vote in an election that may not be fair comes at great personal risk and, in some cases, will leave a person marked for later reprisal. All over the world we see activism beginning in response to austerity measures or decisions that will have longstanding consequences apart from denial of services. Activism, along with dissent, is another important part of the democratic process.

History teaches us many lessons—that bad things happen when good people are silent. There are many examples of that and history shows us what is possible when people work together. Solidarity is strength, the suffrage struggle where our own Muriel Matters worked so hard being one example. Raised in this great state in its early days and in her formative years, it is no mistake that Muriel was galvanised by her experience of what was actually possible.

Democracy does not happen only one day every four years, on election day: it happens every day. It is up to us to make sure that that is always the case. Be prepared to take a stand, and back a person who proposes something that makes sense, particularly in the face of opposition. Like Malala, never be afraid to ask a question, to make those in authority justify their position. Ask for just outcomes. Be involved, and even formalise that involvement by joining a group or even just joining in on a struggle on a single issue. Many hands really do make light work.

You cannot change things unless you are involved, and I do not mean change for change's sake. Rather, we can always strive to do better. Let us be the change we want to see, wherever we can be, within our own workplaces or the wider community. That is true participatory democracy.

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