Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was 20 years ago, almost to the day, that then Prime Minister Howard moved a motion, first proposed by opposition leader Kim Beazley, in the same words as the motion we are debating today: to reaffirm the commitment of the Australian government and the Australian parliament to equal rights. Looking back on Mr Howard's reflections in this place on that day does show that the more things change, the more they can stay the same. Mr Howard said:

It is natural that people, particularly those who feel themselves at the sharp end of challenge and anxiety in industries that have seen extensive job losses, should feel some sense of anxiety about immigration levels. It is our obligation to point out, where it is appropriate, the error in their understanding of the causation between immigration and job security.

It is no coincidence that the need to reaffirm this House's commitment to equal rights, regardless of race, colour, creed or origin, has come at another point in our history where some Australians are feeling left behind and where inequality is on the rise. It is very easy for politicians and so-called leaders to talk to those people—those who are out of work or feeling the pinch of an economic downturn—about patriotism and the supposed threat of immigration. It is easy to create an enemy, and to whip up fear and ride that sentiment into power, but that does not solve the problem. Those people who you were talking to remain out of work, down on their luck and struggling. Those who have come to Australia from across the seas, most of whom have given so much to our country, are caught in the middle, demonised for crimes they never committed to appease people they have never met. This creation of fear is not leadership. It is not what we are here to do.

Mr Beazley, on the day this motion was first brought, impressed upon this place the need for leadership. He said:

But each time each new wave of migrants came in — whether they were from southern Europe, eastern Europe, the Middle East and now more recently from Asia — there has been a requirement on the political leadership in this country to point out the advantage; to mould, insofar as we can, and without arrogance, community opinion that makes it acceptable and ensures that the community sustains its tolerant and decent traditions. There has been that requirement constantly upon us for leadership.

Over the past 200 years, Australia has made enormous progress on racial tolerance led by a series of true leaders. From a nation state born in conflict with the original inhabitants of this great land—built then on a foundation of a White Australia policy—over 200 years, we have begun to bridge that conflict with Indigenous Australia. We have deconstructed the White Australia policy. We have moved away from a sectarian society, and opened our nation up to immigration from Europe first and then across the globe. It would be a tragedy of the highest order for us to abandon that progress, to walk away from the achievements of our forebears and walk back towards the fear and hatred of a sectarian society. Right now, our country needs us all in this place to stand up.

The rights expressed in this motion are what our cousins in the United States would call 'self-evident truths'. They are the values that tie together our nations and bring together liberal democracies across the world. But being self evident does not mean that we do not have to fight for these rights. We must continue every day to press the case for a multicultural Australia; that our multicultural Australia is where we celebrate the practice of many cultures, but always consistent with and underpinned by Australian values.

We must remind ourselves and our constituents of the contributions that different cultures have made to Australia: the Irish Australians who moved here in the 19th century due to famine, like my family; the Chinese at the turn of the 20th century; the Eastern European Australians who came out after the Second World War and helped to build the Snowy Mountain Scheme, or the orchards that surround my electorate of Burt and the hills of Roleystone, Karragullen and Pickering; the Vietnamese Australians who came as refugees and who have become leaders across business, politics and the arts, like the South Australian Governor; the Lebanese Australians, like the former New South Wales Governor; and businessmen and philanthropists, and so many more, as well as those coming to Australia now like those from India and South Asia, through the western areas of the electorate of Burt. All of these people have one thing in common: they are Australians.

I would close by noting another comment by Mr Howard in his speech 20 years ago, which, given some of the commentary from recent days by government ministers, seems more striking than ever.

I remain very fond of the fact—

Mr Howard said—

that I was a member of the coalition government led by Malcolm Fraser which, in the late 1970s, chose to admit to this country tens of thousands of people from war-torn Indochina. Inevitably—

Mr Howard went on—

the character of Australia has changed as a result of this migration. Much of that change has been profoundly beneficial. I think this country owes an enormous debt to people who have chosen this as their home; people who have come from the four corners of the world.

This motion 20 years ago articulated the Australia that we were becoming as we moved into the 21st century. Today, 20 years later, the prosperity and unity of our nation relies on us living the values of this motion, and I am proud to reaffirm our commitment to tolerance and diversity today.

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