Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A chill wind of censorship is blowing across this country. Statues of our nation's founders and leaders are vandalised, and much-loved products of our culture are banned. Even Greens Senator Steele-John, a member of this parliament, with a duty to uphold our laws, cheers on their destruction. Those who disagree or dissent with an extreme left-wing rewriting of our past—even those who have served our country or volunteered in the community—are bullied into silence with a tsunami of online hate speech. How will we build a better Australia when we cannot express our ideas without fear of reprisals? Where will it end? No-one could benefit more from learning some history than those who are seeking to expunge it. Humanity's darkest times have so often begun with burning books, smashing monuments and bullying dissenters. History never judges the vandals and extremists kindly. The men and women who shaped Australia were not perfect, but neither is any one of us today. It is childish arrogance for these petty criminals and bullies to claim that they alone know right from wrong for all time. As we judge those who came before us, we will be judged in our turn. Those who are trying to disown and destroy Australia's past would do well to remember that and actually work to build a better future— (Time expired)