Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is an important motion, and it is good to see members of the government add their names to the list to show their support for the words that have been moved in the House. It is a very important reminder at this time in Australian politics that this House recommits to equal rights for all Australians and reaffirms its support for all Australians to enjoy equal rights and to be treated with respect regardless of race, colour, creed or origin.

I know that a number of MPs have stood in this place and said that one of the joys of being a federal member is being able to participate in citizenship ceremonies, and I too would like to add my voice to that call. We in the City of Greater Bendigo have had just over 280 people in our area take the pledge to become new Australian citizens. I know that that is not as many as in other electorates around the country. I know that in some electorates there are that many at every citizenship ceremony. But in Bendigo that is the number of people we were proud to celebrate taking the step to become Australian citizens.

They have come from many countries to make Australia and Bendigo their home. We have asylum seekers and refugees from Myanmar. We have a number of skilled migrants from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. We also have a number of people who have lived in Australia for a very long time but only recently decided, even though they identify as Australian, to take that step to become Australian citizens—people from New Zealand, the UK and the Netherlands.

In our part of the world we celebrate this event. It is always covered by the local media. There is always joy. There is a lot of nervousness. People are encouraged to wear dress from their original country at the citizenship ceremony. We hold these ceremonies not just in Bendigo; we also hold these ceremonies in the Macedon Ranges and Mount Alexander but less frequently than in Bendigo. It is a way that we in our community celebrate and acknowledge our diversity. It is important that we in this place reflect and respect that diversity not just when we speak in citizenship ceremonies but every day that we are members of parliament.

When I get the great privilege to speak at these events—in fact, at any event in our community where we celebrate our diversity and the many cultures that make up the Australian culture—I talk about how Australia is a rich tapestry of many cultures woven together to form the Australian culture. We do that through the traditional way—through food, music and sharing stories. We always encourage each other to share our stories and our journeys because that is the true Australian culture—many cultures woven together.

Unfortunately, in Bendigo in the last few years we have had a few people invade our town and suggest that we are not a multicultural community, that we are not diverse and that we do not celebrate our diversity. The City of Greater Bendigo just over two years ago quite proudly approved the first application to build our city's first mosque. We have a growing Muslim Australian community in Bendigo and they did not have a place of their own in which to worship. They put forward plans to build a community centre that contained a small mosque.

Unfortunately, the United Patriots Front, Reclaim Australia and a few other groups boarded trains to Bendigo and drove to Bendigo to protest against the building of the first mosque. These people were outrageous and at times violent. The United Patriots Front staged a mock beheading of a dummy out the front of the Bendigo city chambers. They posted this on Facebook. Whilst many community leaders and political leaders, people like me, condemned the video at the time, we really struggled to get Facebook to take down the video. This goes to the role of social media in this space. We note what happened recently in the United States.

I hope that Facebook takes these concerns seriously because the people involved in this incident have since been charged by Victorian Police for serious religious vilification. We welcome that because it is very important that people in Bendigo and in Australia are not subject to the kind of vilification that this group have been pushing for. They say that people who practise the Muslim faith are not Australians. They are wrong. They say people who pray in mosques are not Australians. They are wrong. It says very clearly in our Constitution, very clearly in a number of our federal laws, that people are free in this country to practise their religion. That is one of the reasons I want to speak to this motion, to reiterate my strong support for maintaining respect within this place.

Whilst this group's actions have been broadly condemned by many in politics, you can see how these groups do not see what they are doing is wrong when they are being encouraged by comments that are made by our immigration minister. His words in question time sent alarm bells and shock waves through our community, and it was not just in question time but also during the recent federal election. When the immigration minister said that refugees are clogging up our Medicare system, clogging up our unemployment system and taking Australian jobs in the way that he did, he did it purely and simply to incite fear and push people's buttons within our community. He is not being inclusive, he is not respecting our rules and he is not respecting the fact that we celebrate diversity and migration in our country. This week he also spoke about Australians who have Lebanese heritage.

I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the way political leaders and members of parliament have taken to Twitter to tell the immigration minister why he should be sacked and to also tell him about their history. I would like to acknowledge Jackie Trad, the Deputy Premier of Queensland; Marlene Kairouz, a member of parliament in Victoria; and Steve Bracks, the former and much-loved Premier of Victoria—who all say they are proud Lebanese Australians. But let's make it clear: they are Australians with Lebanese heritage. My parents are from England, but I do not go around saying that I am a proud English Australian. I say that I am Australian with parents who were born in England. It is the same for these three celebrated MPs—they are Australians with Lebanese heritage.

Migrants built our country; it is the history of who we are. It is important that all of us always practise that when we stand and make comments, that we are being true to that; that we reaffirm our commitment to maintaining a migration policy that is wholly non-discriminatory on grounds of race, colour, creed or origin. I want to see the immigration minister recommit to that, a value that for so long has been bipartisan but just this week we have seen him tear that up and go for the cheap political shots. He should be ashamed and apologise for his comments. He is saying these things to invoke fear and division in our community and that is something we should never accept in this place or the other place.

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