Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Following a spate of recent vandalism where we witnessed Captain Cook's statue in Sydney being spray-painted with slogans, and threats by the opposition leader and other history revisionists to take a chisel and put politically correct footnotes on historic statues throughout the nation, I would like to congratulate our environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, for seeking advice from the Australian Heritage Council to see how he can best use federal law to enhance protections for historic monuments in Australia. These statues are part of our history. They are part of our proud heritage. They are nationally significant monuments, and we should not be trying to rewrite history. For, once you start, where do you stop? I agree with Brendan O'Neill, who said of such statue changers:

Blinded by their sensationally ignorant political groupthink, they fail to appreciate that the very freedoms, liberties opportunities and prosperity they enjoy today are the direct result of the advancement of Western civilisation, even with all its mistakes and missteps over the past centuries. The urge to … cleanse public life of "bad history", to shove down the memory hole any bust or tribute to past folk whose values make us bristle today, is intolerant, illiberal and profoundly paternalistic.