I speak about Refugee Week, which runs from Sunday 18 June to Saturday 24 June and is timed to coincide with today, which is World Refugee Day. The first Refugee Week events were organised in 1986, right here in Sydney, and the occasion became a national event two years later. It is now recognised as Australia's peak annual activity to raise awareness within the broader community about the issues affecting refugees, to help people understand what it is like to be a refugee, and to learn about and celebrate the positive contributions that refugees make to Australian society.
Liverpool is home to the second largest intake of refugees in New South Wales and has proudly been a Refugee Welcome Zone since 2014. This recognises that many in the community have built successful lives and contributed so much to the area after having begun their journey as refugees. It also demonstrates a commitment to upholding the rights of refugees, demonstrating compassion for their experiences and celebrating and promoting diversity in the community more broadly. Recently I attended the Sound of Terra Climate Festival held in Macquarie Mall in Liverpool. Sound of Terra is a joint initiative between the Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre and the Sumer Association for Culture and Arts. It uses music to highlight the challenges faced by people who are either displaced in countries that are significantly impacted by climate change, or who are forced to leave their homelands due to climate change.
In 2022 millions of people were displaced across the world due to adverse climate events such as catastrophic floods and severe droughts. Displacement is just one impact on people. Others may experience worsened living conditions or be unable to return following a period of displacement. Often the worst impacts are felt by the most vulnerable people. The Sound of Terra festival featured various local performances by Kings Entertainment, Lurnea High School Pasifika dance group, the Denham Court Public School choir, Trung Han Qun Lion Dance and Martial Arts, and Al Jamia Arts and Science College. It brought an incredible sense of community connection to the Macquarie Mall.
Local creative arts organisation Maki al Badry shared a performance that helped to provide a compassionate and nuanced understanding of the journey made by some in our community who were displaced by war and conflict. It was a sobering reminder that often the brunt of such conflict is felt by children. These children may spend years waiting for resettlement, then face the arduous journey of adapting to life in a new country with a different language and different customs, food and ways of living. As one participant shared with me, "In my home country it is customary to go and visit someone new as soon as they move into the neighbourhood. But in Australia it is more polite to wait until they are settled in. We thought nobody wanted to connect with us, until they did." Sometimes it is the small things that stick with you.
This year's theme for Refugee Week is "Finding Freedom". This theme encourages us all to reflect on the question: What does it mean to be free? Living without the fear of war, having your basic human rights upheld, and living in equality without fear of persecution are just some of the examples of what freedom can entail. Millions of people across the world embark on dangerous journeys every day for the sole purpose of finding safety and freedom. From Australia to nations across the globe, settling into a new environment after experiencing the perils of a refugee's journey can also provide the opportunity to live, to love and to dream.
Many people in New South Wales open their hearts and welcome people from all across the world, which forms the bedrock of our beautiful multicultural society. As we particularly know in western and south‑western Sydney, often those who arrived as refugees are today's small business owners, doctors, teachers, artists and Service NSW workers. The entrepreneurship, work ethic and many other positive qualities of these constructive community members are often highlighted. Let us show compassion and celebrate the resilience that makes up parts of our wider community, for freedom should not be an ask; it should be a way of life.
