It’s great to be here for Jenny and I, to be here again together this evening. We have been a friend of these awards and of course Joseph and Angela for many, many years and I have addressed this gathering before in different roles. But I’ve got to tell you to be able to address you tonight as Prime Minister is very special because there are - I’ve just noticed that Zed Seselja is here tonight, it’s good to see you here as well Zed - there are many great things about being Australian and to have the great privilege to lead Australia and to be able to say you are the Prime Minister of the greatest and most successful immigration country on earth I think is very special. Because that is who we are. This country is an immigration success story without parallel anywhere in the world and we should be enormously proud of what we have all achieved over generations and generations. The Australia we all love and share is an immigrant country.
I am the son of an immigrant many times removed. My forebears came under the compulsory immigration plan of the British back in the 1780s. But you know their story wasn’t that different - well apart from serving a sentence for the first ten or so years. But they went out to Richmond and Windsor and they married in Sydney, they started a business, it was an agricultural business, they stared a farm and built a life for themselves out of what was extraordinary adversity and each generation after that sought to build on that and make their way and build this country. The story is no different if you turned up ten generations ago or you turned up ten days ago. It’s the same story and we have been telling that story as a country for a long time, unless you are an Indigenous Australian, who we acknowledge tonight and elders past and present and into the future. We have all come from somewhere else at some point and that’s what actually bonds so much of us together because that is our story.
Over the last twenty years, our population has grown by some six million people. About as many as was there when our Federation was formed. Half of that growth, more than that in fact, has been the result of immigration. So it is integral to our Australian success story as a people, as a prosperous people as a positive outward looking people, it’s who we are. It is integral to our economy, it’s integral to our identity and it is who we are.
And it did not happen by accident. This is very important. This idea that Australia would be an outward looking immigrant society was not born in the post-war period. Henry Parkes, the Father of Federation, said this in the 1800s; he said that he hoped Australia would become a nation that would gather "all the fruits of the culture of the world," and that those who adopt our land would serve it "with a patriot’s love".
I think if Sir Henry Parkes could have projected forward tonight and seen the fruits of the culture of the world celebrated here tonight, he would be feeling pretty happy with the vision that he saw all these years ago in this very city. Because it is our experience and I have been reflecting a lot on it in the last few days, the last couple of weeks. I have thought about it as I reflected on the life of Sisto Malaspina. Sisto told people he could vividly recall the day he arrived in Australia 54 years ago in October 1964. After almost a month at sea, his two older brothers were waiting for him at Station Pier in Port Melbourne. There was a warm reunion and then Sisto slid into the car for the drive to his brothers’ house in Essendon. The first Australian he met was a man named Jim. It wasn’t Bruce, it was Jim and after welcoming Sisto to Australia, Jim got straight to business. He said, "Now, young man, you are in Essendon. You are in Australia. You must follow and barrack for Essendon."Is there a more Melbournian way to welcome to Australia than that? That was the start of Sisto’s love for Australia – and the Essendon Football Club.
Sisto’s story of moving to Australia was like so many others. He was the baby in his family – in Italian, of course, Sisto means sixth-born. With his brothers and sisters, he grew up in a small town in Northern Italy, where his parents owned a restaurant. As soon as he turned 18, he followed in his brothers’ footsteps. He packed his bags, farewelled his family and friends - a story familiar to many people in this room - and migrated to Australia. Sisto’s first job was here in a factory recycling tyres. But within a decade, he had taken the reins of Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar, an Italian café on Bourke Street. Inch by inch, day by day, year by year, he turned it into one of Australia’s and Melbourne’s greatest institutions.
He was known for saying: "Here we give you more than food. This is your home away from home." And it is more than a café, it’s more than a business. It’s a more than a Melbourne community icon, it is one with a global community reputation. Its’ proprietor, Sisto Malaspina, became a living legend - until one moment. Sisto was unique. But the richness and generosity of his heart that he brought to Australia surpassed that. It was so typical of the hundreds of thousands who have made their way to our land over many years.
People who have created businesses, worked hard, raised families and looked after each other, came to make a contribution not take one. And in that moment Sisto was taken from us by the hand of something that has no place in this country. What triumphed was not the hand of evil, but the love and the passion and the heart of a great Australia - that conquers these things every time.
That’s why Australia and what Australia is about, conquers every time. What you have done, what you have worked for, what you have achieved is the best of Australia. It conquers all those things that would seek to undermine this country.
That’s what we celebrate tonight; we celebrate these stories, caring, compassionate, generous stories, hardworking stories, vibrant personalities, vision. Migrants, arriving here like Joseph, with a suitcase full of dreams. Pursuing those dreams enriching Australia’s society, the Australian economy, Australian lives, the heart and soul of our nation. What I talk about is, "a fair go for those who have a go". That’s what fairness in Australia means and that is no better demonstrated than the migrant communities of Australia and the ethnic communities of Australia.
So today, we are the most successful immigration country on earth, thanks to Sisto Malaspina and all of those who have walked in his shoes or will walk in his shoes in the future. Tonight marks 30 years of the Ethnic Business Awards and it’s so wonderful to see the evolution of the awards over that period of time Joseph and your life’s passion in your post business career, shared by Angela.
It’s also wonderful to see these Awards over many years have now embraced our First Australians, our Indigenous Australians and celebrated their tremendous success stories as we create the connection between Indigenous Australians and the rest of us who came. We have the connections and values and aspirations and I think that’s also what this night celebrates. There is a spirit of entrepreneurship sweeping across so many Indigenous communities and it is fantastic to know that is being recognised tonight. I honour it and want it to be part of that force and that change and that passion that continues to encourage you on. In doing so, I also want to encourage and thank Joseph and Angela for founding these awards and all those who have worked with Joseph and Angela over these years to make them the success they clearly are.
We of course as a Government are committed to seeing businesses succeed. People who take risks and succeed, people who put it all on the line for our great nation to succeed, to employ young Australians. Nothing better than seeing a young Australian getting a job. It changes their world, changes their life, changes their future and so that is what we celebrate tonight.
I congratulate all of the nominees for all the work you have put in. I hope you will enjoy celebrating the night and celebrating all the nominees tonight. Some will win and some will come back and win next time. We have seen that before haven’t we Joseph? Because you stick at it and you succeed and we have seen it and so I hope you do have a very pleasant evening.
I want to close tonight by turning back to Sisto once more. If coffee has a spiritual home, well, Italy might just pip Australia .In Italy, they follow a bible when it comes to drinking coffee. Italians usually don’t drink cappuccinos after midday and it is unthinkable to have one after dinner. But guess what? Sisto disagreed with such hard and fast rules. He’d say: "People should drink their coffees how they like it, the way they like it, when they like it." It might sound like a small thing, but that respect for others and tolerance and acceptance of difference is the foundation of modern Australia. I wonder if you will just join with me for a brief moment let’s just remember Sisto.
[Pause]
So congratulations on everything you do. My hope is that our wonderful shared story of harmony, of success of prosperity as a diverse but united people will continue well, well, well into the future. Thank you and enjoy your coffee.
