Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledge the historic action of the Holt Government, with bipartisan support from the Australian Labor Party, in initiating the dismantling of the White Australia Policy;

(2) recognise that since 1973, successive Labor and Liberal/National Party Governments have, with bipartisan support, pursued a racially non-discriminatory immigration policy to the overwhelming national, and international, benefit of Australia; and

(3) give its unambiguous and unqualified commitment to the principle that, whatever criteria are applied by Australian Governments in exercising their sovereign right to determine the composition of the immigration intake, race, faith or ethnic origin shall never, explicitly or implicitly, be among them.

The three points in the motion are taken, word for word just about, from a motion that Prime Minister Hawke moved in this parliament on 25 August 1988, 30 years ago next week. I have to say, in this world, you have to be pretty outrageous to be condemned by everybody in the Australian parliament—but Senator Anning has managed to do just this—because the blight of racism and discrimination is not new. But truth is always the best defence against racism.

There is no historical experience and no contemporary evidence that race determines bad behaviour—none at all. As I've said, this is not a new debate. Catholic and Jewish migrants had to deal with discrimination because of their faith, as did successive waves of Italians, Greeks and eastern Europeans after the Second World War and Vietnamese migrants in the 1970s and 1980s. Newly arrived Muslim and African communities are facing it now. The First Australians know all about the harm done by prejudice. The simple truth is this: we are a stronger, better country because of all of those who've come across the seas and joined their stories to ours.

I move this motion today because we need to defend the great national convention of Australian politics: race is beyond politics. I'm asking the government—and I'm pleased that the Prime Minister and the Minister for Home Affairs are here—to support a motion that reaffirms the great bond of our major parties, to defend our national sense of decency and our trust in Australia. I'm sure the Prime Minister will say comparable things, because I know that he is not a racist. This statement will be stronger if it is supported by the members of the House of Representatives. We should do this together.

In the corrosive and fragmented climate of public debate, it's become unfortunately common for some to seek out attention by picking on minorities—the less powerful—by attacking in the most vile terms, normally, someone who cannot defend themselves. Around the world, right-wing extremists are turning this into a political art form. They say something hateful, or homophobic, or sexist or racist, something designed to humiliate and denigrate and hurt, and when their comments are condemned they complain about political correctness gone mad or the thought police stifling their free speech, all the while basking in the media attention. I have no doubt that was the cynical intention last night, and we have seen it again in a string of media appearances by Senator Anning this morning.

I understand that, in one sense, there might be a reason to simply ignore it, to starve the stupidity of oxygen, to treat it as beneath contempt. But, as leaders, as representatives of the Australian people, as servants of diverse communities in our great multicultural nation, we cannot stay silent in the face of racism. We cannot ignore the kind of prejudice and hate that the senator sought to unleash last night. Free speech is a cherished value in Australian society, but it is not an unfettered right to hurt, to bully, to intimidate, or to make some Australians feel less equal than other Australians. We have to call it out. We must condemn it. We have to speak truth. We have to stand against it, strong and united.

I acknowledge that as word has gone out on this speech many members and senators already have stood up and spoken out. I acknowledge their courage. It is time for the parliament to once again draw a line and say 'no more racism, no more crossing the street, no more turning a blind eye', and no more 'if we just ignore it, it will go away'. This is not commentary in social media, it is commentary in the Parliament of Australia. It is time for every serious parliamentarian and political party to show the courage to put candidates who advocate racism last. Malcolm Fraser knew this and John Howard got there. It is time for all of us to say 'enough—no more deals with racist parties, no more preferences for racism'.

When it comes to opposing racism, Labor will not hold back. We will not play a straight bat, stay silent and hope for the best. We know racism fills the silences and discrimination thrives in the darkness. The only way to stop it is to haul into the light each of these hateful falsehoods and expose them for the harmful fictions they are. Labor is proud to be a party of multicultural Australia, a party of tolerance, a party to heal the nation. We weren't always there. From the time of Whitlam, Hayden, Hawke, Keating, Evans, Beazley, Rudd and Gillard, not once has the inclination of modern Labor altered. Yes, we can establish better processes for integration and, yes, a better promotion of understanding. But let us be clear that Australia won't achieve any of what our nation's great destiny can be by pulling the racist lever. As Senator Wong put it this morning: 'a nation that is divided is never safer'. I think it is important to quote the former head of ASIO, the respected David Irvine:

… the tiny number of violent extremists does not represent the Islamic communities of Australia … it is grossly unfair to blame Muslims, who see themselves as a committed component of Australia's multi-cultural society—

He went on to say:

Our fight is with terrorism, not with Islam or with our Muslim community. … the strongest defence against violent extremism lies within the Australian Muslim community itself.

Senator Anning needs to understand this. When he undermines our national harmony and says that some Australians are better Australians than other Australians, he risks weakening our national security.

Senator Anning's speech boiled down to one big lie about Australia—that every challenge we face can be blamed on our newest arrivals, that all of our problems can be solved by turning back the clock and closing ourselves off from the world. But here is the truth about Australia: we are a nation made great by immigration. We are strong because we are diverse. We are a richer, smarter, more interesting, more prosperous destination because of people who have built a new life here. Many come here with just with the clothes on their back. They're people who've worked hard; started early; stayed late; opened businesses; built communities; looked after their neighbours; raised children; served in local, state and federal politics; cared for their elders; paid taxes; worn the uniform of our country. They're people from all traditions who've added their story to our own, people from every country who have made us a better country, people of every faith who share a common belief in Australia.

What Senator Anning and Senator Hanson and some of the rest pine for is the supposed good old days of White Australia. But they're not just insulting new arrivals; they're denigrating everything that all Australians have put together in the last half-century, whether their families have been here for one generation, eight generations or 2,000 generations. People who seek to lecture others about Australian values need to know that racism is not an Australian value.

As for the senator's use of the term 'the final solution', it's a phrase torn from the darkest pages of human history—two words which speak for the brutalisation and murder of millions, two words that evoke fear and grief and trauma and loss in diasporic families all over the world and many others. The senator ridicules his critics by saying these words need to be seen in their context. Well, that is exactly the problem. This wasn't a piece of Twitter stupidity composed in haste. It was a first speech nine months in the making. The context of these words is prejudice; it was a speech filled with prejudice. This, like everything else, deserves nothing but condemnation.

It's always been easy for candidates who style themselves as outsiders or mavericks to blame minorities, to demonise difference, to try and divide Australia by putting the blame onto one particular group or another. Truth and consistency doesn't trouble these people. They say that migrants are bludging on welfare but that they're also buying all our houses. They say they're uneducated but they're filling our universities. The list goes on. Let's be very clear about this. Let's speak truth. Traffic jams on freeways and overcrowded trains are not an argument against migration. They're proof we need to build better roads and more public transport. Low wages are not an argument against migration; they're proof we need policies to boost pay, improve bargaining and restore penalty rates. The argument that people are locked out of the housing market is not an argument against migration; it's an argument for a fairer tax system and a level playing field. Crime is not a migration problem. Violence is not a migration problem. No-one on this side of the House is minimising the challenges that real people face in their daily lives. This parliament should put forward plans and policies to help. But we do not seek to insult the intelligence of the Australian people by blaming every problem in this country on decent, hardworking, law-abiding people who are just trying to make this a better place.

In recent times, the great national convention of Australia—that race should be above politics—has been breached. Now it is time for all of us who seek to represent the national interest to support this motion, to prove that the convention has not been broken and to show that Australia's major parties stand against racism and prejudice.

In conclusion, there is a lot of debate about the Australian identity and what makes a good Australian. But today I want to say that what makes a good Australian is not governed by the number of generations you've been here—2,000 generations, eight generations or one. What makes a good Australian is not what god you worship, where your ancestors came from or how much money you have. It is not your skin colour, your postcode, your occupation or your gender. What makes a good Australian is what is in here in your heart. What makes a good Australian is: are you a good neighbour? Do you raise your family? Do you pay your taxes? Do you obey the law? Good Australians are not just born; they can become good Australians by choice. Good Australians are people who stand up for minorities, for the less powerful, for the fair go all around. A good Australian is not dictated by skin colour or worship; it is not dictated by what faith you adhere to. It is whether or not you adhere to our laws and raise your family well. A good Australian is the kindness you show on another's trouble and the courage you show on your own. A good Australian is someone who adheres to our values, and our values include standing up for the less powerful. Thank you very much.

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