History-making MPs shun ‘drums of war’ for ‘beacon of peace’

New members of parliament delivered First Speeches in Mandarin, Malay and Dari and argued for Australia to embrace diversity and preserve peace in the region rather than beat the ‘drums of war’.

WA senator Fatima Payman. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

New members of parliament delivered First Speeches in Mandarin, Malay and Dari and argued for Australia to embrace diversity and preserve peace in the region rather than beat the “drums of war”.

The nation’s youngest sitting senator, 27-year-old West Australian Fatima Payman, is the first member of parliament to wear a hijab and said she faced discrimination and abuse over her faith while growing up. “I felt like any other Aussie kid, growing up in the northern suburbs of Perth, catching public transport to university and hoping to become a productive member of society,” she told the upper house.

“But comments like ‘go back to where you came from’ or inferences to extremism forced me to feel like I didn’t belong.”

Senator Payman, born in Afghanistan, said she found her place in the Labor Party, which abolished the White Australia policy and led the way in making the nation more multicultural.

“As the daughter of a refugee who came to this land with dreams of a safe and better future, I gave myself that audacity to challenge the system and to see how far I would go, to see how much ground I could break, to see how much change I could initiate,” she said.

“Australians showed us their appetite for a parliament that reflects our society because you can’t be what you can’t see.”

Senator Payman closed her speech with a poem she read out in Dari, an Afghan dialect, which her late father often read to her before losing his battle with leukaemia in 2018 at just 47 years old.

Fellow WA Labor member Sam Lim also spoke in his first languages, Malay and Mandarin, and argued for Australian governments to “propagate peace”. “I believe all of us here today want to see Australia as the beacon of peace in this troubled world. Beating war drums is a foolish exercise,” he told the lower house.

Mr Lim, who defeated Liberal frontbencher Ben Morton in the seat of Tangney, grew up in a home in Malaysia with a dirt floor and no running water or electricity. A former dolphin trainer, he moved to WA and became a police officer. “Police officers (are) often abused, kicked, punched, bitten and spat on. They go from job to job, often thanklessly.”

Mr Lim said he would fight for police officers and frontline workers such as nurses and doctors, who helped save his daughter’s life after her cancer diagnosis in 2006.

New MP for Holt in Victoria, Cassandra Fernando, reflected on her Sri Lankan heritage and said she was committed to “protecting fairness and equality for all”.

The newest addition to the Jacqui Lambie Network, Tammy Tyrrell, declared she would stand up for ordinary Australians and urged understanding from constituents and parliament when she changed her mind.

“Normal people change their minds about things,“ Senator Tyrrell said. “It’s one of the things I like about Jacqui. She’s not the Jacqui she was when she was elected the first time, because she’s not been afraid to learn.”