HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-08-25 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

Afghanistan

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (11:34): I move:

That this house—

(a) acknowledges the more than 26,000 Australians who served in Afghanistan and mourn the ultimate sacrifice 41 Australian soldiers made while serving our country;

(b) supports the people of Afghanistan during this difficult time and acknowledges the sacrifices many Afghanis made over the last 20 years working with Australian and NATO partners to help free Afghanistan from the Taliban;

(c) supports and commits to work with the local Afghan community of all South Australia and provide assistance where appropriate;

(d) calls on the Morrison government to implement the following actions immediately:

(i) immediately grant all Afghan nationals who are already in Australia on Safe Haven Enterprise visas and Temporary Protection visas a path to permanent residency and ultimately Australian citizenship immediately;

(ii) immediately subject to all necessary security and health checks, facilitate migration to Australia of Afghan residents, including their families, who have worked with or assisted the Australian Defence Force or consular personnel in Afghanistan in recognition of their service to Australia;

(iii) immediately announce a humanitarian refugee visa program for Afghan ethnic minorities such as the Hazaras and advocate for women's and human rights, journalists and other activists at risk due to Taliban rule; and

(iv) immediately prioritise and increase the number of Australian family reunion visas for Afghan Australians.

I thank the house for its granting me the opportunity to deal with this motion relatively speedily because it is important. It is important that this house establish its position on what South Australia can do to accommodate the very real and legitimate concerns that exist amongst the Afghan people of our state.

South Australia has an incredibly proud record of really leading the nation when it comes to multiculturalism, leading the nation in ensuring that we demonstrate that as South Australians we have those common ideals of compassion and openheartedness not just to people from other parts of the world but to people from other parts of the world who are in peril.

We know, tragically, that as we speak right at this very moment in another part of the world there are people in Afghanistan whose lives are in danger. Literally, their lives are in danger not because they have committed a crime, not because they have done anything wrong, but simply because they might believe in the value of democracy, simply because they might be female, simply because they have a different ethnicity or a different religion.

We know that, if we are to honour the tradition that this state has not to just maintain multicultural values but to welcome people from other parts of the world, we need to see changes within Australia not later on but now. I think it is outstanding, the news that broke in the early hours of this morning, that a plane landed at Adelaide Airport with just under 100 people from Afghanistan. I think it is a great credit to the state government and the federal government and all concerned that that has occurred.

But we need to go further because there is an opportunity before this house right now to send a crystal clear message to the Morrison government that it is not okay for people to have hanging over their head the threat of deportation, not now not ever, particularly those who have been in Australia and assessed to be genuine refugees—that is to say they have nowhere else to go safely and that is to say this country can provide them safe harbour that nowhere else can. It is not okay for those people to have hanging over their head the threat of deportation at any point in the future.

These are individuals. These are human beings the Australian commonwealth government have deemed to be genuine refugees and are able to be safely accommodated here in our great country, yet what they do not have and what they have been actively deprived of, not for 12 months or two years but in many cases for five, six, seven, eight years as a result of the Morrison government's policy, is the ability to have a pathway to permanent residency and, ultimately, citizenship.

I believe and I hope this house believes that that is wrong, because if we are sincere and genuine in our hearts in believing that these individuals should be able to call Australia home, then they should be able to call Australia home forever. That is what underpins the whole concept of citizenship.

When we talk about these big picture policy questions in generalities, it is easy to lose sight of the individual human experience, so I would like to share with you a few stories. These are real people who reside within South Australia right now. There is Fatima, who arrived in Australia in 2013. Her children were an eight-year-old daughter, who is now 16, a son who was seven and is now 15, and another son who was six and is now 14.

Two of Fatima's children had chickenpox on arrival, so they were closed in one container in isolation for 18 days before moving to the bigger camp for two months. Then they came to Adelaide, to Inverbrackie, for six months. In 2014, Fatima was released on a bridging visa with no work or study rights, but luckily her children were able to go to school.

While her kids were at school, Fatima learnt English at the community centre, and once her English had improved she even assisted the community centre with interpreting for other women in a similar position. Fatima was granted a Safe Haven Enterprise visa in 2017. She is studying English and completing her certificate IV in that regard. Her intention is to become a teacher.

All three of Fatima's children are now in high school, in years 11 and 9. with the youngest in year 7. She describes how the pressure is really hard when you do not have a permanent visa. Her words are:

I worry a lot about the future for my children and for me. I don't know what the government is going to decide for me and my children. Lucky for my daughter, she has received a scholarship but what about my son? He has a big dream to become a bio engineer, but how he will access university if he doesn't get a scholarship too? I have been so stressed about my children and their future. And on top of everything there is a war in my home country and I'm worried for my relatives there.

I am safe here, my children are safe here, but it's only temporary—what about when my visa ends?

Then there is Ali, who arrived in Australia in October 2013 as an unaccompanied minor. Ali was just 17 years old and alone, with no family, when he arrived and spent the first few months in Australia in detention on Christmas Island.

Ali was then held in community detention in Adelaide later on where he was able to attend a dedicated English language program at his secondary level school. He was ultimately released on a bridging visa, which of course provided no work rights whatsoever. He was allowed to study at high school but with no financial support to do so. It was only thanks to the generous support of a school that he was able to complete his year 11 and year 12 studies, when ultimately he was awarded the Makin Humanitarian Award upon his graduation in 2014.

After graduating, he was still denied both work and other study rights on his bridging visa, so instead he dedicated his time to volunteering with different organisations, including the Welcoming Centre in Bowden and also as a surf lifesaver and assisting with community support following the 2015 bushfires. He says:

Because of the isolation I felt, and my age, I was worried about being alone and the path that I could end up going down. I thought it was better to volunteer with my time helping people, so I found community organisations where I could offer my support. I also wanted to give people a different idea about asylum seekers—lots of people only believe what they hear in the news; it's harder to believe these negative things when you hear someone's story and meet them in person.

Isn't that true? Once finally granted work rights in 2015, he worked in student support for a high school as a caseworker and a bilingual worker, using his experience of seeking asylum as a teenager to inform his work alongside others seeking safety. He has finally received a Safe Haven Enterprise visa in 2019, but again finds himself with the threat of having to be returned home.

His mum and his two brothers remain in Afghanistan and he is deeply worried for their safety. His brothers were six and eight when he left and now, almost 10 years later, they are teenagers. He fears for the danger they have been subject to, which is now likely to increase. He is stuck on the SHEV and he is unable to access any family reunion to provide them with safety and a future.

Finally, Reza Hashimi arrived in Australia in November 2012 as a 19 year old—again, at Christmas Island, and then ultimately transferred to the Curtin detention centre. He was put onto a bridging visa, with no work or study rights, and was ultimately granted a SHEV in 2016 here in South Australia because of the work that was undertaken by the former Labor government to ensure access to SHEVs in South Australia.

Initially, he found it hard to get a job but became an Uber driver and worked for one year driving for Uber, saving money to ultimately buy his own business. There was limited success initially. He went back to Uber, got back into the business; it was a business on Prospect Road. COVID hit, desperately hurting the business, but now the business is starting to become a success, but he is still working part-time as an Uber driver.

This individual's SHEV expires next month—next month—so he has to apply for another temporary visa following. There is comfort taken in the words from Prime Minister Morrison recently that no-one will be sent back at this time, but when does that end? In the words of Reza Hashimi:

I came here with the hope to make a life here and bring them to safety. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. It's already ten years I've been here. It's a very challenging time…Australia is a good country, I'm not complaining. I'm working hard to call this place my home and contribute to the community.

He also said, 'I have lived here for 10 years. We have some freedom, but we still don't have the same freedoms as others.' That is wrong.

These are just three cases. Yesterday, I mentioned I had the opportunity to attend the mosque last Wednesday night and to be with the Premier at the event in Victoria Square on Saturday night, literally inundated with people sharing story after story. It is hard not to be confronted when individuals present to you photos of family members they would desperately love to have back in Australia now. Our resolution today calls for change that the Morrison government can make immediately.

I believe there are individuals here today who are here on TPVs and SHEVs, and have been for some time. It is within the power of the Morrison government to immediately give these people a path to permanency and ultimately citizenship so they, too, cannot just call Australia home but also share the common will and desire that each of us holds to be able to influence public policy in our own country through the ballot box. Citizenship is an expression of something we all hold dear, and that is the democratic ideal.

Why should individuals who have lived here for five to seven years who want to be Australian not have a say on what Australia looks like? They are being deprived of that ability because they do not have a path to permanent residency. That can be fixed. This house has the power today to convey to Prime Minister Morrison that we need change and we need it now. This is not a Labor Party view, this is not a Liberal Party view—this is South Australia's view.

Let's pass this motion with acclamation so we can see the change that is required now so we can send a message not just to the people of Afghanistan but to people all around the world that we are a compassionate country and an open-hearted country and that, if you share our ideals, we share your hopes and aspirations and we will make them real.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning and Local Government) (11:49): I rise to speak on the motion before us, which follows on from, of course, the Premier's indulgence commendation to the parliament yesterday and his very heart-wrenching contribution in relation to the circumstance that has developed in Afghanistan, which was supported by the Leader of the Opposition.

As we speak, as the world watches, Australia's mission in Afghanistan, our longest war, is of course drawing to a close, and as it does here in Australia and in our own state, we are offering all possible assistance to those affected by this humanitarian crisis. A repatriation flight landed in Adelaide this morning with 89 people from Afghanistan, who have been welcomed by the Premier this morning. There will be more. Over the past week Australia has already evacuated more than 1,600 people from Afghanistan on 17 flights. This has been achieved by working with our allies.

Here in Australia, we are also working closely with the Afghan community. Our Premier has met with a number of Afghan community leaders since the evacuation from Kabul began last week and of course, as indicated by the Leader of the Opposition, the Premier attended a vigil for South Australians to come together and recognise the significance of the plight of those in Afghanistan. The Premier has given his assurance that the South Australian government is ready to offer all possible further assistance. The Premier has also commended our Afghan community for coming together to assist us in this challenge.

South Australia's links with Afghanistan are enduring. The town of Marree in our Far North is home to Australia's first mosque. It was built of mud and brick by Afghan cameleers as the town was established in the 1880s and today South Australia is proud of our 8,000-strong Afghan community. The community continues to enrich the thriving multicultural society that we have become and as we have welcomed people from all corners of the globe to settle here.

Now we are preparing to settle more from Afghanistan, and South Australia will play its full part. As the Prime Minister has announced already, Australia will welcome an additional humanitarian intake of some 3,000 Afghani nationals by next July as part of our annual national program. He has made it clear that this is a base, not a ceiling. He has committed to continuing to increase the intake of Afghan nationals at elevated levels in the years ahead.

Since April this year, Australia has brought out from Afghanistan more than 430 locally engaged employees and their families to be resettled in Australia. This number is increasing and the evacuations are now underway. Since 2013, more than 8,500 Afghans have resettled in Australia and we welcome them. They are part of a very productive and much-loved part of our community. This includes more than 1,900 locally engaged staff and their families. Under Australia's refugee and humanitarian program, Australia is second only to Canada on a per capita basis in the number of people we settle here permanently.

Currently, Australia's personnel are working under very perilous circumstances in Kabul: our Defence Force personnel, DFAT, Home Affairs staff and our intelligence agencies. They work in the knowledge that there are credible threats of terrorist attacks for those who intend harm not only to our people but to Afghan nationals. Australia's presence in Afghanistan continues to be marked by the supreme courage and devotion to duty. Let us support this work with practical responses and not attempts at political pointscoring. Let us think of their family members back in Australia, as they watch anxiously what is unfolding. We want them to all get home as quickly and safely as possible.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Could I interrupt, Attorney? Could I ask the chamber staff to head upstairs above me: a camera just flashed.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: I think it was a light globe.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It was a light? Okay, my apologies.

Ms Bedford: There is no-one up above you.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Florey. Attorney, continue.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: We want to get them all home as quickly and safely as possible. Let us also honour those who have not come home. Forty-one Australians died in Afghanistan in the service of our nation and we honour their sacrifice. We recognise the terrible loss continuing to be suffered by their families. Let them know this: you fought with distinction and honour for a worthy cause. Australia is a safer place today because of your sacrifice. We will remain proud of your service and we will continue to support those who are left to carry the burden of your service—your families and our ex-service organisations.

Over the past 20 years, more than 39,000 Australian Defence Force men and women served our country in Afghanistan. We also acknowledge the work of thousands of diplomats, aid workers, members of the Australian Federal Police and other government officials who have contributed to our efforts. We recognise the sacrifice of our coalition partners and our allies who have seen their service men and women give their lives for the work they undertook in Afghanistan. To those who served in Afghanistan and survived, we will continue to honour your service, and to the fallen, lest we forget.

May I conclude by saying that I can recall, not in this house but I am old enough to remember, those who came to our shores from Vietnam, including our own Governor and his to-be wife, who had fled Vietnam. Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser welcomed those people to Australia and we helped resettle them. Scott Morrison, as the now Prime Minister, has made a commitment in relation to not only the repatriation and those who are fleeing at present, which of course is the priority, but has also made a commitment that he is not about to put people who are in Australia on a plane back to Afghanistan. That will be worked through with the law and with that commitment.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (11:56): On 15 August, we saw images on our television screens that shocked the world, as people clambered onto a plane escaping from Kabul because they were fearing for their life, they were desperate. We watched that as we were recounting how quickly after the withdrawal the Taliban had taken over.

This withdrawal was always feared by our Afghan community. They knew that the fight for democracy was not complete. Now, they live with stress and anxiety for family members and friends who remain over there. Of course, the Taliban are seeking out the people who assisted the NATO forces. They were people who were translators, security personnel and drivers. They need our support and they need Australia to stand up and show its leadership in the world.

I would like to talk a little bit about my Afghan community in the north. I have had the opportunity to be welcomed at places of worship, at the Wali-e-Asr Centre, the Fatima Zahra Mosque and Hussainia, and the Mahdi Organisation. I was particularly asked to come earlier this year when our Afghan community had put their hands in their pockets to raise funds for the bushfire appeal. When I say 'raise funds', I am talking about $90,000.

People who have come here to start their life, who are hardworking, who are establishing businesses here, raising their families to be Australians, saw that their fellow brothers and sisters needed their help and they made sure that they delivered. I spoke about it in the house at the time, particularly about how the Hazara community saw this need and answered it. Not only did they put in $90,000, but 100 people volunteered to support those who had been impacted by the bushfire.

I like to say, 'Come to Salisbury and see the world.' One of the reasons I say that is that if you go down John Street, our high street, you can see the impact of the Afghan community, their entrepreneurship, their business investment. You can see restaurants, bakeries, grocers, travel agents and fashion. What a few years ago was a challenging street for our area has come alive. You can get pizza and juice, and there is movement and people there seven days a week.

We are very clear today about what South Australians know we can do. It is outlined here in the motion by our opposition leader. People are on pathways from temporary to permanent residency and ultimately citizenship. We also want to make sure that people who have been helping us, standing side by side with Australians, are supported and recognised for the danger that they are now in.

I particularly want to focus on family reunion visas, because anyone who has gone through a process for a partnership visa, or who is already married and wants their children and family to come over, knows it is a very long process. What I have heard is that some of our Afghan community were given the lowest priority to have family reunion, and they are waiting five, six or seven years. Let me be clear: these are people who have already applied to the Australian government. All the paperwork is there. This is an opportunity for Australia to stand up. This is an opportunity for us to bring those families together so they can start their lives in safety, commence their education.

Particularly if you have daughters, we know what the Taliban feels about women. I stand here today because I was treated equally with my brother. I was educated and I was listened to, but it is not the same for everyone and every woman in the world. I do not believe the Taliban when they say they have changed, because we know they are hunting women today to prevent them from working, to prevent them from having an education. This is something that we must always fight against and advocate for.

I would like to share with you some of the quotes I have had from people who have reached out to me in my electorate office. This is because it is personal and the fear is real. A young man wrote:

I am waiting for my citizenship to be granted before going to Afghanistan to get married…Unfortunately the current situation would not allow me to go there to be with her.

I fear for her life and safety as she was an active member and representative of the youth of Wardak province and has an active presence in Social Media. I would like to apply for a visa and need support from you to get her to Australia as soon as possible.

He fears for her life. Another person, who has been waiting for a prospective marriage visa for more than two years, writes:

I have given up. He is probably days away from getting killed by the Taliban. I will become a widow before getting married.

This is our community. This is our community in South Australia asking for our support. We have done this before. History shows us, after World War II, after the fall of Saigon, after Tiananmen Square, after the fighting in Syria, Australia stood up and we accepted humanitarian entrants. Let's do it again. What are we waiting for?

I support this motion. I support our community. I know you are scared. I know you are getting daily phone calls from family and friends, begging you for help. South Australia supports you, and I support this motion.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (12:05): I rise to make a short contribution to this motion on behalf of the people of my electorate of Stuart. I am certain my electorate would have a stronger historical connection with Afghan people than any other part of the state.

As the Deputy Premier already mentioned, the very first mosque in Australia was established in Marree in my electorate. I believe it was 1862 when it was established. That is still a very special place in Marree. People in Marree respect that mosque. It is a fairly humble structure, not nearly as grand and special as the other ones that we see in Adelaide and in images from around the world. There is a mud and stone wall around about knee or thigh height that has been rendered, with native pine posts and a thatched roof over the top. It still stands there, and everybody in Marree has enormous respect for that mosque.

There used to be a natural spring that had a small pool in front of the mosque, where the Afghan worshippers would wash their feet before they went into this mosque. It is a place that is never vandalised, never messed with. Quite regularly it is renovated or just supported, if something just needs a little bit of help here and there. There is a large, thick rope of the sort that you would see from shipping circles around the outside of the mosque to stop people from going inside. It serves two purposes: it protects the mosque but also it respects the fact that a mosque is not just a place that tourists or anybody else can just wander in in their shoes and have a look around. It is actually a special place.

In Marree, there are still Khans, Bejahs, Dadlehs and Mooshas living in the town. It is a beautiful community in Marree, made up of Aboriginal descendent people, Afghan descendent people and, of course, European and Anglo descendent people, all living in perfect harmony. One of the reasons for that is because the Afghan people made such an enormous contribution to the development of the outback in South Australia.

Port Augusta, where I have my electorate office in the heart of my electorate, has pictures in the council chambers and other historic places of ships that went back and forth between Port Augusta and England, that took cargo back and forth one way and the other, largely exporting wool from the north of South Australia back to Europe. That wool was brought down to Port Augusta from the sheep stations by Afghan cameleers.

Afghan cameleers hold a very special place in the hearts and minds of people in outback South Australia. I have to say, in my many years of living in the north of the state, there has never ever been anything other than affection and support and recognition for the important role that Afghan people played in partnership with others in opening up, exploring and developing the north of South Australia.

Perhaps 16 or 17 years ago, I had the pleasure of seeing a photographic exhibition in the art gallery in Port Pirie that was all about the Afghan community in the north of South Australia 100 and 150 years ago. They were absolutely stunningly beautiful photographs of Afghans and their contribution. Whether it was in a labouring and toil way, whether it was in a business development way or whether it was in a teaching way, the clear thrust of that exhibition was that the Afghan community that came to the north of South Australia contributed much more than just their skills as labourers or cameleers; they actually brought a strong quality of society and education and ethics, and they were well respected in the north of the state.

I represent the people of Stuart. For those who may not be familiar with Stuart, it goes up to the Northern Territory-Queensland border and the northern part of the western border of New South Wales. That whole north-east area of the state would not be what it is today if it were not for migrants from Afghanistan who worked hand in hand with other people from other parts of the world, including Australian Aboriginal people, to develop that part of the world. In the north of South Australia, it is something that we are proud of, and in the north of South Australia I know we would welcome more Afghan people into our community.

Ms MICHAELS (Enfield) (12:10): I rise to support the motion of our leader, the member for Croydon, and thank him for his leadership on this issue. As you may be aware, Mr Acting Speaker, I have a significant proportion of Afghans, particularly the Hazara community, working and living in my electorate of Enfield.

I was with the leader and the member for Ramsay at the vigil on Saturday night. It was an honour to be there to listen to the prayers and the words of Mr Hussain Razaiat, someone I have had conversations with about his time at the Woomera detention centre and what he went through. I want to acknowledge what my community is going through right now.

We have had some wonderful members of the Afghan community be such strong leaders in the Enfield electorate. I want to mention a couple of them, including Hanif Rahimi, who runs the IGA just across from my electoral office. There was an article in The Advertiser on 17 August this year that I ask members to pull out and read his personal story of how he managed to get out of Afghanistan and into Australia by having the Taliban simply think he was dead because they beat him so viciously. He does wonderful work for the community, offers job opportunities through his business and is such a generous man, and his family are such wonderful and generous people.

As I look into the gallery I see Rahim, my dear friend, who runs The Ghan, right near my electoral office. He also does amazing work with Afghan youth, running the Ghan soccer club in my area. Again, he is a generous man with his time, his money and his support of youth. The wonderful women's soccer team that he runs is fantastic.

I want to read something to bring home how sad this is right now and how gut-wrenching this is right now for the people who have no certainty that they can stay in Australia and for people who have family in Afghanistan. This is an email that hit my inbox at 11.40pm last night from Samir. He says:

My name is Samir and I am a Citizen of Australia…Thanks for supporting the Afghan people. I have been asking for my wife case for two and a half years, but unfortunately I did not hear any answer. Last week, when the Taliban took over the city of Herat in Afghanistan, they went from house to house trying to harass, humiliate and threaten Hazara people, including beating my wife a lot and threatening to kill her…

which you can clearly see in the pictures he attached to his email. We need to do more to help these people and bring them home to Australia.

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (12:14): I rise to offer my support to the hundreds of Afghan residents living in my electorate of MacKillop whose family members have been tragically caught up in the unfolding situation involving the Taliban in Afghanistan. These constituents are understandably frightened and anxious about the fate of their family members. They are watching the terrifying scenes on television of panicked Afghan residents storming the Kabul airport as they attempt to flee this violent regime and the uncertain future that awaits them. Many have been unable to contact their family due to telecommunications issues, being displaced or being in hiding and fearful of the Taliban's violence and oppression, particularly towards women.

The Naracoorte Lucindale government area has the highest migrant population of people born in Afghanistan in South Australia. The 2016 census identified that 4 per cent of residents were born in Afghanistan, and our beautiful region is richer because of it. Our Afghan residents are pivotal members of our community. They own homes here, have businesses here, they shop here and they give our economy greater strength. They help our meatworks, JBS at Bordertown and Teys at Naracoorte, in their operations. They work in our vineyards and on farms, and their children go to our schools. They volunteer here and they give back to the community in so many ways. Australia is their home and they belong here.

It is estimated that there are now around 500 Afghan residents living in MacKillop, primarily in Naracoorte and Bordertown. Of those, approximately 65 are waiting for a permanent visa, 85 are waiting for Australian citizenship and around 70 of those are waiting for their family members to be granted visas to come to Australia. The process is not an easy one. There have been long delays in processing applications, with many people waiting years and some still waiting.

One Afghan migrant who lives in Naracoorte arrived here as an illegal immigrant around eight years ago. As a Temporary Protection visa holder, he is not eligible to bring his Afghanistan-based wife and child to Australia. He is considered to be a refugee, but he is in no-man's-land. He pays Australian taxes, owns a business in Naracoorte, employs locals and supports the community in many ways. This person needs our support and assistance and a pathway for his family and his future in this country.

In Bordertown, another Afghan migrant has a similar story. In 2013, he lodged an application for his wife, children and other family members to come to Australia. He became an Australian citizen in 2020, and he is still waiting for his family. The emotional toll, especially in this particular time, must be agonising. Sadly, these stories are not unique. There are many more people, mainly men, in similarly difficult situations.

In times of crisis, communities come together. Over the weekend, the Australian Migrant Resource Centre helped organise a vigil, in conjunction with the Limestone Coast Multicultural Network, for members of the Naracoorte Afghan community and their supporters. More than 60 people attended. In Bordertown, a similar event, coordinated by the Tatiara District Council, drew a crowd of nearly 200 people. The Cup of Kindness event, offering tea and scones, was a welcome distraction and a support for all involved.

We know our federal government is acting to ensure that those in immediate harm are being given priority to come to Australia. Australian citizens, permanent visa holders and Afghan locally engaged employees and their families are being evacuated. The 3,000 additional humanitarian places that will be allocated to Afghan nationals within Australia's program, which currently provides 13,750 places annually, is welcome. The government says that it anticipates this initial allocation will increase further over the course of 2021-22.

I urge the federal government to act quickly and efficiently to evacuate those at heightened risk of persecution from the Taliban. Importantly, I will also urge the federal government to help get the families of those Afghans who have settled here in Australia—those in my electorate of MacKillop—a safe passage out of Afghanistan. Compassion is needed. These are the wives, children, mothers and fathers of Afghan migrants in Australia.

I would like to add that, as the new member for MacKillop, I have got to know the Afghan community quite well. They have engaged and welcomed me on many occasions. I want to bring up two events that have happened just recently.

One was the Blackford fire at Lucindale this summer, which burnt around 14,000 or 15,000 hectares. The Afghani community and the migrant community in general gave very willingly to a major fundraising event for those affected by the fires. Not only that, but the Afghani community singlehandedly, as a community group went to the Lucindale fire area and provided labour and support to Blaze Aid. I highlight that because that is the sort of notion they bring to our community, that is the sort of participation they bring to our community, and they are willing to help in all those types of community events.

The other event was in Padthaway two or three years ago. The Afghani community are really well and heavily involved in the vineyard industry generally in MacKillop, and Padthaway has a large vineyard area. A lot of the Naracoorte Afghanis who work up towards Padthaway had a major get-together/banquet/barbecue at a private individual's house and there were over 200 people at this event. It highlighted to me again how our Australian way of life and the businesses in Padthaway value the Afghani community and how they pulled together and captured this group of people.

To speak of another piece of success and why this Afghani community is a great community body, one of the new Afghani locals, now an Australian citizen, is a major employer in my region. I think he employs nearly 700 contractors at busy times of the year in Naracoorte. This is the sort of business attitude that is coming to our regions and it is so valuable. They participate and they get involved. They come from very difficult backgrounds and they give it their best. I can tell you that we as a state will be better off with more of these people in our state. Now more than ever, I hope that help and support is afforded to them as quickly as it can be.

Motion carried.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT