Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make comment upon a private member’s motion that was moved in the House some weeks ago by the member for Mitchell. The motion raised some concerns about the way in which the Turkish government had made some decisions, and it wanted to bring those to the attention of the House. As we know, every member has a right to question a decision of our parliament or, indeed, parliaments of other democracies. However, I think it is important for me to reflect upon the construction of that motion and to point out that the member for Mitchell, willingly or otherwise, offended many in the Australian Turkish community by particular references. As I said, whilst I think it is the right of members to raise particular matters and question whether unfair decisions are made in any country, I think it was inflammatory to refer to Istanbul as Constantinople.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

As I was saying, the motion, wittingly or otherwise, was offensive to many in the Australian Turkish community. It is an example of the importance of members being aware of the implications of using particular language. In the case of that motion, using the word ‘Constantinople’ instead of ‘Istanbul’ may not seem important to those not interested in the history of Turkey, the Ottoman Empire or that region of the world but it would have been an affront to many people—certainly, students of history—not just the Turkish community.

I do understand that the motion, once it was debated, was amended to remove some of the offensive terms. I was not able to speak on the motion. I understand the four members who spoke on the motion talked about the importance of the contributions made by the Australian Turkish community. In the end, it did not turn out as badly as it could have. I do think it was unnecessary to have used inflammatory language to provoke concerns and anxiety amongst the Australian Turkish community and, in future, I would ask that the member for Mitchell or any other member desist from such behaviour.

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