Senator COONEY (11:26 PM) —Until the end of the 18th century, the Aboriginals were the only people in possession of our continent. Then the Europeans came and settled here. Since then, the Australian population has grown from a blend of many groups. Fundamental to our future is the quality of that mingling. For this to be of the highest, our society must deal with each of us as entire members of it, as fully entitled to our place in it as are any of our fellow citizens and as in no way diminished because of our origins. A good community spurns the notion that one person can be more Australian than his or her fellow because his or her background is to be found in a particular overseas country or in a certain religion or in a certain culture.

Many Australians have Serbian backgrounds. They are fully committed to this nation. They have contributed mightily to our community. They are true members of it. In recent times, Yugoslavia has come in for much criticism. This has resulted in untoward words and actions being directed against some Australians with Serbian origins. A free society allows for the vigorous exchange of views, including gratuitous ones. But allegations and innuendos can reach the point where they prejudice a fair and gracious society. There is an issue as to whether this has happened to some Australians of Serbian origin.

During the attack by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on Yugoslavia, a number of people in Australia, including many of Serbian background, protested about the resultant death and destruction. They have done so responsibly, and that fact ought to be publicly acknowledged. People can protest about what is happening to the country from which they or their forebears have sailed or flown in the past without in any way prejudicing their identity as Australians. Indeed, all people of non-Aboriginal background have origins here which are so recent that each and every one of us could be expected to have regard for the place from which our forebears have come and to act in accord with that regard when it is touched by terrible events.