Gellibrand’s new MP used his first speech to the Australian Parliament on Monday to celebrate Australia’s multicultural success.
Noting a long history of people travelling to Australia for a better opportunity in life, Tim Watts called for an open society embracing immigration and multiculturalism.
“Like my family, over 60 per cent of the residents of Gellibrand have at least one parent born overseas,” he said.
“The openness of our society and the opportunity we have extended to migrants to our nation has left Australia better placed to succeed in an open, global economy. Despite this, there are those who seek to threaten Australia’s multicultural success.”
Mr Watts called for Australia to become a republic and argued that it is Labor that drives political change.
He said the Labor Party must not simply win elections but focus on the bigger picture of “winning centuries” and shaping rather than reflecting public opinion.
“We weren’t in power for the majority of the past 100 years, but our ideas were.”
These included old-age pensions, workers compensation, tariff reduction and multiculturalism as well as Medicare, HECS and compulsory superannuation.
“We must continue to invest in urban infrastructure so that the strains of population growth do not cripple the productivity of those living in our cities and suburbs,” Mr Watts said, citing the Melbourne metro rail tunnel as an example.
Mr Watts paid tribute to past Gellibrand members Nicola Roxon and Ralph Willis for “four decades of extraordinary service” to the Labor cause.
