Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As the son of proud Italian migrants, amongst my first words in this place was an opportunity to quote a migrant himself, Nick Cater. Nick Cater in his publication The Lucky Culture talks about deliverance. He said, 'Migrants come to the country not for deliverance but to deliver.' What I get really upset about in this place is the propensity for those opposite to think they have a monopoly on two things. One is compassion. They're the party of compassion, as if they have some sort of lock hold on that. The other thing is that they're the party of multicultural Australia. Rubbish! I'm not saying it's rubbish; the people of Australia said it was rubbish at the last election. Don't take me as an authority on this. It speaks to why we are having this MPI today.

Many multicultural communities drifted to the coalition last year, forcing Labor to rethink its multicultural policies. That's what's happening here. Labor has established, under the leadership of the member for Cowan, a new Labor caucus committee focused on rebooting their efforts in multicultural Australia. As someone who comes from multicultural Australia, whose parents don't speak English that well and who has lived in a community that doesn't have English as a second language, can I tell you: we're Australian, we want to be treated as Australians and we know what is important. Our aspirations are important, and we don't want to be lectured about what it is to be Australian by those opposite. We don't want to be told that the only great prime minister for multicultural Australia was Bob Hawke. I remind those opposite that I think he would hang his head in shame with respect to the current membership of the Australian Labor Party.

I'm not the only one who has come to this view. George Lekakis AO, who is the former chair of the Victorian Multicultural Commission, was scathing in his attack on federal Labor's absence of a multicultural policy at the last election. I think his comments are very pertinent. He said:

Federal Labor lost its way with multicultural policy …

… … …

Photo opportunities with electorally important communities prior to elections are the order of the day …

A leader in the multicultural community in Australia is saying: 'Look, you've lost your way. Photo opportunities with multiculturally significant communities seems to be what you're about.'

We're not about that. We are about the aspirations of everyday, ordinary Australians: parents, people, citizens like my parents, who come to this country to deliver, not for deliverance. I could spend time talking about the grants that we've provided under the $71 million social cohesion package, the Fostering Integration Grants, which saw in my electorate a multicultural soccer festival and artworks at the community migrant resource centre. Can I say to those opposite: don't go hunting for votes in multicultural Australia. Work with them. Don't go fishing.

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