Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

The government does indeed join with the opposition in standing up to racism and the targeting of people by race in our country and acknowledging that we do in fact live in the greatest multicultural society on earth. We have welcomed more people from more places to Australia and integrated them seamlessly into a culture based on fairness and freedom.

While the member for Scullin has raised this matter of public importance today with a negative tone, in many cases about the government's performance but also about the state of our society, I take a different tone in relation to multiculturalism in Australia. I think the cohesion of our society is as strong as ever. I think that the integration of people from around the world is going better than ever. I think almost all Australians, with the support of our state and federal governments, believe more than ever in the integration of people from around the world into our society—probably stronger than they ever had in modern Australian terms.

The government overwhelmingly recognises that migrants have made the most substantial contribution to this country. Think about how in the last census 49 per cent were either been born overseas or have a parent born overseas. It's probably 50 per cent by now; it's probably over half. It's all of us. It's probably most of us here in this chamber right now. Most people listening have probably had a parent or been born overseas.

See this speech in context