Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like many of my colleagues, I rise to address the shameful words that were uttered in the other place last night. There can be no excuse, no weasel words and no reason such as free speech to accept the divisive, hurtful and ignorant speech made by a Queensland senator, who, I might add, was elected on 19 votes. We heard similar views in this House 20 years ago, when a former member for Oxley used the same scare tactics in her first speech. Those racially motivated comments were rejected then, and I know that our community will reject them now.

My community in the electorate of Oxley is one of the most diverse and multicultural electorates in Australia, with almost 60,000 people who were born overseas now calling our community home. That is more than one-third of the residents in Oxley. Oxley is also home to one of the largest Vietnamese communities, with over 12,000 people of Vietnamese heritage. It is statistics like these which prove Australia is the best multicultural nation on earth. We celebrate our differences and rejoice in our similarities. We're a place where every group of migrants from all over the world has contributed to this country and made it a better place. We are a stronger country because we are a diverse nation. We are a richer nation because we have a multicultural nation where no-one is limited by their faith, their race or the circumstances of their birth. Like many Australians, I condemn the speech given by Senator Anning and call on him and the Katter party to retract those comments.

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