Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on behalf of those very good people in my electorate of Perth, who the Minister for Immigration and others on the government side might like to describe as 'the children of second and third generation immigrants'. Those electors who I am privileged to speak on behalf of are so much more than that and so much more than the unfair and untrue slur that the Minister for Immigration and those on that side would like to paint them as. They are doctors, they are nurses, they are teachers, they are hard workers and their mums and dads contribute to P&Cs. They are Australians, and they are the people who make this country what it is.

They do not deserve to be painted, as the members of the other side would like to have them painted, as those who are responsible for the security of this country being at risk. They are Australians. There is a culture on the other side where the member for Bowman, the Minister for Immigration and the Prime Minister hide behind a number of facts without displaying the truth. The truth is that these are not immigrants; these are Australians. The Prime Minister is held captive to his conservative right. This Prime Minister is now just somebody that we used to know.