Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Moreton for putting this very important private member's motion to the House for debate. Multiculturalism is the foundation of modern Australian society. Although this motion refers to Australian having had a multiculturalism policy since 1973, the truth is that Australia began becoming a multicultural society long before that. We can go back to the First Fleet, to Muslims from Afghanistan and to the Chinese of the gold rush period, not to mention the migration of people from the United Kingdom and Ireland, but it was Arthur Calwell's ambitious, expansive migration policy of the late 1940s, which sourced migrants from war-torn Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, that sowed the foundation for modern multicultural Australia. With the pronouncement that, 'We cannot hold this continent with 7½ million people,' Calwell and his contemporaries set about changing the cultural face of Australian society in the pursuit of nation-building and prosperity. It is no coincidence that Calwell has been referred to as the 'father of multiculturalism', a reference not often countenanced in the history of multiculturalism.

The election of the Whitlam government in 1972 led to the official formation and adoption of a policy that sought to effect and implement the integration of migrant Australia. Multiculturalism recognised the strength of our cultural diversity. It recognised that not only migrants' labour but also their cultural inheritance were vital nation-building resources for our prosperity. As a policy, multiculturalism created a socially and culturally inclusive society in making us a richer and more vibrant nation, and in providing a fair go for all underpinned by the principles of access and equity in service delivery. The key piece of establishing legislation was the Racial Discrimination Act, a legal framework that ensured the protection of people's rights and their dignity.

By and large, multicultural policy has enjoyed bipartisanship at both state and federal levels, but this has not always been the case. We have, over recent years, endured debates that called for multiculturalism to be abandoned because it was seen as divisive and detrimental to Australia. Nothing is further from the truth. Without multiculturalism, Australia's migrant society would not have achieved the social cohesion we have, which has enabled us to prosper as a success story of Australian nationhood. I know the Prime Minister believes this also, and I want to commend him for his multicultural statement promoting inclusion and integration, which he launched last week. But I want to ask him why he has sought to undermine this statement by moving to amend section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. By weakening 18C, the Turnbull government is sending mixed signals: on the one hand, it supports multiculturalism; on the other hand, it does not support the very tools needed to protect and ensure our social cohesion.

The second coming of One Nation and the formation of other conservative groups mean that debate around these very important issues, which are ultimately about our national identity, remains timely and critical. Pauline Hanson is the same crude voice today as she was 20 years ago. Her current target is Muslim Australians, and she goes as far as saying, 'Islam is a disease. We need to vaccinate ourselves against that.' Is this not insulting and humiliating? It sure is offensive and it is a disgraceful display of small-mindedness and opportunism. I disagree with the Prime Minister: there is nothing sophisticated about Pauline Hanson mark 2. She remains as bigoted, unsophisticated and crass as she has always been. It is Muslims today; 20 years ago it was Asians. I am sure that 50 years ago it would have been Europeans, my family and I included. Pauline Hanson threatens our national security. The Prime Minister is right to point this out. Her views undermine our social cohesion. She and others like her use the pretext of freedom of speech to promote verbal violence, and as such she has to be held to account.

George Zangalis is an Australian, a unionist, chair of 3ZZZ community radio and one of the 'unwanted Australians'. He has spent most of his life fighting racist views such as those espoused by Pauline Hanson. He says:

It took a long time of sustained efforts to legislate against racism and enshrine multiculturalism as the glue that binds the nation together. The Turnbull Government's amendments strike at the very heart of such protection.

Under threat is not nor has it been freedom of speech, especially for those who yield power and cry the loudest for taking the guts out of 18C but protection against racism for minorities that 18C currently provides.

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