CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Mr ABDO (Calwell) (16:35): The World Cup is a festival of football, and I'm proud of our government's backing through the Urban Precincts and Partnerships Program, which helped bring the world game to the big screens at Town Hall Broadmeadows, alongside our local partners. Across 13 live matches, two big screens, movies, food trucks, music and activities for the whole family helped bring people together, spend time with family and friends and share in one of the world's great sporting events.
That's the great capacity found in sport. Our community is one of Australia's most culturally diverse, so, when we look at the Socceroos, we see something familiar. We see a reflection of our community.
We see a reflection of modern Australia. We see multicultural Australia. We see it in the players, one of which in particular stands out to us.
Aziz Behich grew up locally. I happened to graduate from the same school as Aziz and members of his family, and shared a university class with one of his siblings. Some of his earlier moments in the football journey were at one of our local clubs, Hume City, before going on to represent Australia on the world stage as a Socceroo.
His story is the story of communities like mine. It says something special about Australia that a young person can grow up, proudly carry both their family heritage and their Australian identity, and represent our country with distinction and pride. That's something we're proud of because it's something we see every day.
We know Australia for what it is—a nation built by people who have come from every corner of the world seeking opportunity, working hard, raising families and helping build a better life for themselves and in turn helping build Australia. The Socceroos reflect the Australia we see every day in communities like ours beyond the headlines, an Australia that's diverse, an Australia that's confident and an Australia that's comfortable in its identity.
It shows us that Australia exists beyond the culture wars. Growing up as a kid in suburban Melbourne, monos were things you did on pushbikes. They weren't political philosophies of a monoculture that the three-ring right-wing spectacle that those opposite are putting forward.
We believe in an Australia that's confident in its diversity and strengthened by the contributions of people from every corner of the world who have chosen to make this country home. That's the Australia we back in because it's the country communities like ours have helped build, an Australia that will always be stronger than those who seek to divide Australians for political gain and the pursuit of political relevance.