STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms CAMPBELL (Moreton) (13:56): In my first speech in this place, I spoke about my multicultural roots and my family, who immigrated to this place in the late 1800s from China. When they moved here, they built things. They built their families, and they helped build our community.

Like so many other people in our country, they are a stark reminder that multiculturalism is not a new concept; it's an old one. It's one that's helped build this country. When the opposition leader stands up in front of a big media pack, when he's got all the cameras on him, when he denies multiculturalism and when he cannot get the word out of his mouth, in that moment, he denies Moo Yat Fah, who helped build the Darwin to Pine Creek Railroad.

In that moment, he denies my grandfather, Harry HoyPang Moo, who fought for this country in World War II. In that moment he denies Lewis Lee, OAM, a pillar of my community, who is one of the cornerstones of our multicultural community on Brisbane's south side. In that press conference, he used the phrase 'it's pretty simple'.

Well, to the Leader of the Opposition, I say: it's pretty simple; why can't you say the word?