Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This referendum is an opportunity for this country to take a step on the road towards justice for First Nations people. But what is clear, from motions in this place, from speeches in this place and from the interviews being given to right-wing shock jocks, is that there are those in this country who want to deny justice to First Nations people.

Unfortunately, and sadly, the Leader of the Opposition has taken this opportunity to divide, instead of to unite—to continue to use a long and tragic tradition of seeking to use race to try to win votes. And why is this? Well, let's remember that the Leader of the Opposition claims there's sexual abuse in Alice Springs but refuses to report it to the police. The Leader of the Opposition opposes lifting the age of criminal responsibility, which currently sees First Nations children locked up at record rates. That is what is driving this and these contributions to this debate and his effort to divide this country. The Uluru statement was presented to the last government when the Leader of the Opposition was in cabinet. He vigorously opposed it then, as he vigorously opposes it now, because, if there's one thing about the Leader of the Opposition that's worth noting, it's that he doesn't change. Last time he was in opposition, when there was a formal apology made to members of the stolen generation, he turned his back and walked out, and said he couldn't support the apology, and was deaf to the cries of anguish.

He has built his career on attacking those in a weaker position than himself: calling people seeking asylum 'illegals', and fearmongering about different racial groups, trashing them in the media and in his public comments, and seeking to further his lot through the marginalisation of the weakest in our world. It's the sort of approach that you would expect from One Nation, but it is coming from someone who wants to lead this country. That is his record on immigration. He built and ran prison islands, which saw human rights abuse on an industrial scale. When women were raped, he accused them of trying it on. When people were left with no other option but to set themselves on fire, he claimed it was hype. And he accused refugee advocates of coaching self-harm. That is the history which is leading us to this point. And he has denied the climate crisis, siding with coal barons and urging gas corporations to continue to pollute—

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