Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

This is a very strange MPI from the member for Clark. He's got up here today and he's spoken about Julian Assange and criticised the US military. As a left-wing independent MP in Tasmania, he's talking about the US military. None of that was in the topic for today's MPI. The topic was quite bizarre, quite frankly. If he wanted to talk about Julian Assange maybe he should have put that in the notes for what he wanted to talk about. There would have been plenty who wanted to speak on that. But the topic is really quite bizarre.

The member for Clark talks about the disregard for the rule of law and the sovereignty of our nation, saying the government doesn't support the sovereignty of our nation and that we don't support a healthy democracy. There's nothing here about Julian Assange. Basically he went for five minutes, spoke about that and sat down, and that was the whole argument.

We have a very strong democracy here in Australia and a strong constitutional monarchy. If you really want to look at what people think about Australia, look at what happens when you go to a citizenship ceremony? If you go to a citizenship ceremony and you talk to new Australian citizens who are busting at the seams to come to Australia, and you look at Australia through the eyes of a new citizen, they specifically love our country. They really want to be here. They're lining up to come in. You can see the tears in their eyes.

On the weekend, I was out in North Lakes with some constituents of mine, Charlene and Brent Alley. I had lunch at their place at North Lakes. They originally moved here from South Africa. They were welcoming a new family, Yoshi and his family, which had just come to Australia and have permanent visas here. I spent time with those 20 people. They were just so grateful to be here in Australia—really grateful.

I was talking to the member for Brisbane before as well. We were sitting here, and he was saying that he was out at the markets on the weekend and he had a constituent come up and talk to him about everything that was wrong with Australia, or everything that needed fixing, and described him as a miserable leftie. But, what he actually said to her was: 'What is it that you like about Australia? What is it that you love about Australia?' They couldn't answer—not one thing. They were baffled by the question: what is it you love about Australia?

I love lots about our country, as a man that comes from Brisbane. I love our democracy. Our democracy is strong. I love our rule of law and that in Australia we've much safer, I believe, than in many other countries, generally speaking. People generally respect the law, and it's enforced well through state governments and through the police in different states. We have the freedom to worship in Australia, to be able to believe in our faith. Whether we have a faith or we don't, we have the freedom to worship and gather and express our views.

I love the fact that in Australia we celebrate Christmas. Christmas is a special time of the year. Growing up in Bracken Ridge, Christmas was very important.

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