Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise with some sadness, but at the same time this is an opportunity to put on the record, on behalf of my electorate and many people that live in the City of Greater Bendigo, a few things that have happened recently. It is a grievance for many people, and I believe that this parliament and all of us as parliamentarians have a role to play in this particular space. For the second time in two months our town has been making national and international news for some very ugly and violent protests. It is heartbreaking for so many of us to see our town and our community become the latest stage and battleground for the far right and far left in this country—and that is all you can describe them as.

The far right have been bombarding people in our electorate with a lot of misinformation for quite some time. They oppose the building of any mosque anywhere. The Bendigo Muslim community quite some time ago submitted a planning application, like any other community group or organisation, requesting to build a place to worship and a community space. They are a small part of our community, yes: there are about 300 of them. They are predominantly professionals—our doctors, our engineers and our dentists, people who have moved to Bendigo to ensure that so many of us have access to quality, affordable health care. They are the reason why our bulk-billing rates have gone up. They are also our engineers and our academics—people who our community can be proud of and who have played an active role in ensuring that we were able to secure a Defence manufacturing contract, the Hawkei contract.

But they do not want me to stand here and say it is because they are Muslim. It is because they are Australian. They are proud Australians that are proud of their community and seek to do what any other group of faith do, because that is our right here in Australia as Australian citizens. We have freedom of religion, we respect others' cultural diversity, we embrace it and we share it. So it is quite heartbreaking to many of us to see what has happened in our town. But I wanted to use this grievance debate to put on the record some of the great things that are going on in my community.

I wear yellow today—I have replaced my traditional red with yellow—to support the Believe in Bendigo campaign. On the grand final public holiday, our city was awash in yellow. Over 2,000 people—families—came together to share and celebrate the many cultures that make up our town, and we all wore yellow. We enjoyed music in the park and we shared food. This is Bendigo. The Bendigo believe campaign has become a vehicle in which people like me—people who are part of our business community, our health services, our mums and dads in our schools, and our community groups like our scout groups and our girl guide groups—can come together under one banner: Believe in Bendigo. The goal of this group is simple: it is to demonstrate to the world and to ourselves that we are stronger than those who try to divide us, that we are inclusive, we are multicultural and we are a fun and peaceful people. This group, Believe in Bendigo, will continue. It will continue to campaign. It will continue to ensure that those in our community who may not quite be sure about what is going on have the correct information.

I would like to acknowledge at this point the bravery of many of the City of Greater Bendigo councillors who, like many other leaders in our community, have been bombarded by a lot of hate speech, intimidation and threats of violence which must be condemned and not tolerated. They have stood up to the bombardment of this negativity, this awful, nasty attack. They have stared it down and said 'No, we respect people's right to worship.' They have continued to support the planning application, and that is purely and simply all this is: a planning application that came before the City of Greater Bendigo, that they reviewed through the proper processes, that was supported at the council meeting and that was then appealed to VCAT—and VCAT upheld the council planning position. It is not right, in this country, to reject a planning application on the basis of religion. That is something that some groups want to preach could be done and should be done. It is not right, in this country, that planning applications are rejected on the basis of religion. That is racist. That is a breach of our Constitution, a breach of our Citizenship Act and a breach of so many other acts, both federal and state.

The council also needs to be acknowledged for standing up to some very threatening behaviour by some of those involved in this anti-Islam campaign. The worst of those were a couple of people, who were not from Bendigo, who came into our town and did a mock beheading out the front of the City of Greater Bendigo. They used this to try and whip up fear in our community via Facebook. Those actions must be condemned in the loudest possible terms.

What we did see on the weekend was about 700 protesters—400 from the far right gathering in Rosslyn Park and about 300 from the far left—and about 400 police who worked really hard to ensure that things did not get a lot worse than they were. The police also need to be acknowledged for how well they kept the peace. Anybody who has seen these rallies, particularly those of the far right, would agree that they are intimidating, aggressive and do not represent who we are as a country. They fly in the face of everything that Australians hold dear. Those people are not patriots. If they were patriots then they would be defenders of our constitution and they would be defenders of our Citizenship Act and the responsibilities that come with Australian citizenship: the right to express your cultural heritage and belief coupled with the responsibility to accept the rights of others to express their heritage and cultural beliefs. These are our citizenship values, which so many of us in this place hold dear and believe in. And this is what I call on people—whether they be from Bendigo or from outside Bendigo—to respect.

We in this place do not simply tolerate diversity; we welcome it. We thrive on it. It enriches who were are and it strengthens our community. I echo the words of my colleague and good friend, the member for Watson, from earlier today in the House:

We do not need more racist hate speech—

We do not need those words; I agree with him.

… I urge those members of this place and the other place who still wish to weaken the Racial Discrimination Act at 18C to realise that the last thing this nation needs is a rise in racist hate speech. We are a nation where the world has come to live, and we are better for it.

I agree with the member for Watson's words. As an MP who has been confronted by this since shortly after I was elected, I urge all of those in this place to stand together on this issue. We cannot allow the misguidance, the aggression, the intolerance and the hate speech of a few to divide our community.

We have a lot of work to do in Bendigo and we all acknowledge that. The Believe in Bendigo campaign is not just a campaign to celebrate what makes us great and what makes us strong as a community. They are also embarking on an education campaign, teaching and sharing cultural and religious beliefs and values and making sure people understand the truth about Islam. I would like to acknowledge the Bendigo Muslim community for not just their patience but their willingness to share their story, so that many of us can dispel a number of the myths that have occurred and are still occurring.

To the people on Facebook who may have a few words to say about this speech today, I would like to remind you of what your obligations are as Australian citizens. It is a privilege to be an Australian citizen. We must respect one another and respect who we are. Question what you are being told. Do not believe the outside propaganda that you are being bombarded with. You are better than that. Believe in Bendigo, believe in yourselves, and if you have questions, ask.