Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm proud to be a Queenslander. I raised my family in Ipswich and I've lived in my electorate my whole life. I've seen firsthand how the words of a newly elected member of this place could divide a community. The comments made by Senator Anning in the other place are not reflective of my community in Ipswich, of Queensland or of South-East Queensland. They're definitely not reflective of Australia and the shared Australian values we all believe in. Australia is a nation built on migration, and our non-discriminatory immigration policy is our strength and pride. The Racial Discrimination Act was passed by the Whitlam government in 1975 to ensure Australia would not return to the backward, unjust and discriminatory days of yesteryear. Yesterday, a senator used disgusting, denigrating and divisive language which has no place in this place. It has no place in Australia. The words 'the final solution' should be called out and condemned. I've walked through Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, behind Israeli conscripts as they were taught the horrors of Nazi-occupied Europe, I visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. I suggest Senator Anning visit these places. His words are not normal. They are contemptible, and Queenslanders should not vote for this man at the next election.