Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In nine days time, Australia will host its first Conservative Political Action Conference, sponsored by the Liberal Party think tanks, the Menzies centre and the IPA. I note that the member for Hughes will be putting in his little knapsack his photo of himself with the former member for Warringah taken on that beautiful night at The Lodge when they spoke about getting rid of renewable energy in this country. This wouldn't be such a problem except for the fact that the keynote speakers for this conference include Raheem Kassam, a far Right activist with a history of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, who made appalling comments about the Scottish National Party Leader Nicola Sturgeon after she suffered a miscarriage. Other speakers include American gun fanatics like Matt Schlapp, who has been called out for racist dog whistling by American conservatives and former Republican Chair Michael Steele.

Australians should be alarmed at the constant cosying-up to far Right extremists that the Liberal and National parties constantly engage with. We ought not forget that this government has continually had to be shamed into denying visas to some of the most notorious and far Right racist extremists. They had to be shamed into denying Milo Yiannopoulos a visa because many of the government MPs wanted to have a selfie with him. I had to campaign for months to make sure that the Holocaust denier David Icke didn't get a visa after the minister for immigration granted him one. We haven't forgotten that they all voted with Pauline Hanson in the 'It's okay to be white' motion. Australians need to make sure that Australia doesn't become a destination of choice for extremists.