Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that the tenor of political debate undertaken within this place has deteriorated from the standards expected by the Australian people;

(2) recognises that this place has a responsibility to elevate the national political debate to enhance and encourage social cohesion within Australian communities;

(3) commits to the eradication of the exploitation of race and ethnicity as a political tool within this place; and

(4) agrees to eliminate the use of language corrosive of national unity and cohesion.

Australia is a country of immigrants, forged from the very first Australians who came to this ancient land more than 65,000 years ago. Since that time we have unfortunately wrestled with racial tensions. Those of us alive now are not responsible for white dispossession, but we live with its consequences. Despite many governments' efforts, we have not yet managed to right the wrongs inflicted on First Nations people at colonisation. Most recently, the Voice referendum was associated with a dramatic spike in racism and discrimination against First Nations Australians, resulting in an increase in Indigenous suicide rates across the country. In recent decades, our generosity to people seeking asylum in this country has also waned. We have falsely claimed that refugees have thrown their children into seas and that they've lied about rape and violence visited upon them. We have abandoned them on foreign soil. We have detained them to the point where they suicide because we have robbed them of hope.

The horror wrought by Hamas on 7 October 2023 resonated around the world. It forced Israel to defend itself from those attacks and to fight to retrieve its hostages. It left the Jewish diaspora shocked and traumatised by the unspeakable physical and sexual violence inflicted by Hamas. But the extent and the nature of the Israeli response in Gaza has been utterly heartbreaking. There have been many, many thousands of innocent lives lost—children, women, men, journalists, nurses, doctors, teachers, aid workers—with millions of desperate people repeatedly uprooted from their homes without safety, without medicine, without food and without water. Gaza has been razed before a disbelieving and grieving world's eyes.

Sadly, antisemitism has been a well-documented and increasing concern in Australia for many years, but things have recently worsened, and it to our great shame that in recent months Jewish citizens have, in many cases for the first time in their lives, felt discriminated against and targeted on the streets, in schools and on our university campuses. It is incumbent on all of us to ensure that Australians feel safe. All Australians must feel safe, respected and free to profess their faith in their workplaces and in the streets. We have to all stand together against antisemitism.

We also need to recognise and respect the great sadness and anger felt by so many people about the terrible destruction and loss of life visited upon the people of Gaza. Those emotions have been amplified by feelings of helplessness in the face of an Israeli administration which seems intransigent to the urgings of governments, the UN and the International Court of Justice to halt the killing of innocents, to respect international law and to work for a sustained peace.

In Australia, our democratic and human rights based values have to include respect for artistic and academic freedom and the right to peaceful protest. Two things can be true at the same time. We can be horrified by the actions of Hamas but also devastated by the terrible tragedy of the devastation of Gaza. Like the hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens who demonstrated against their government last week, we can support the State of Israel but not its government's actions against the civilian population of Gaza.

It is to this country's shame that the distress felt by so many Australians about this terrible war has in many cases been stoked by rhetoric and wedge politics in this place. Politicians from the Left and from the Right have deliberately fomented dissent and anger at a time when we need reason and respect. Most Australians are generous and accepting. We want our leaders to watch their words and their actions, to provide a means of acknowledging differences and to acknowledge that both Indigenous and white Australians need to be able to feel that this wonderful island home is our home; that both Jewish and Muslim Australians can fairly and reasonably feel great grief and anxiety about the war in the Middle East; and that we must continue to offer refuge to the dispossessed and the homeless. Our nation looks to our leaders to show compassion and mercy. We owe Australians nothing less. We are and will always be a country of immigrants, and we are better because of that.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

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

I thank the member for Kooyong for bringing forward this motion in this place. There is a misconception out there that I often hear: that somehow Jewish community members in Australia want to see this war continue—that somehow the Jewish community want to see this terrible war go on and that they support all sorts of terrible things that are happening to the Palestinian people. It just could not be further from the truth. The truth is that this has been devastating, obviously, for people in the region but it has also been devastating for communities right around the world, and the Jewish community in Australia has been at the point of the spear when it comes to the consequences and the pushback that we have seen as a result of this conflict.

Just think for a second of what we have become desensitised to in this country. Concerts by Jewish performers like Deborah Conway and performances by Jewish comedians have been invaded, as have Jewish community centres. People feel that that's appropriate. Last week, two Jewish boys at Caulfield Station were physically assaulted for being Jewish. I personally have had my office visited in the early hours of the morning by people who sought to cause damage. This has been, in my 37 years living in this country, one of the most devastating and awful times for the community that I am so proud to represent. No-one in the Jewish community in Australia wants this war to continue, and no-one wants to see the devastation, displacement or loss of life of Palestinian people. We are humans above all else, and we want to see dignity for all people, freedom for all people and a future for all people.

That's why the way we conduct ourselves in this place really matters. I wish we could click our fingers in the House of Representatives and cause the war to be over, but it is just not the case. What we can do is hold the nuanced, respectful, calm and measured debate that this country was built on—the respect for one another, the multiculturalism, the fact that we conduct political discussions in a way that respects each and every Australian.

It is not okay to point the finger at community groups and diaspora groups around the world. It's not okay to target Jewish community organisations if you somehow have views on the Middle East, because they are not the Israeli government. They are Australians, and, if you are targeting Jewish people in Australia because of your views on the Middle East, then you are crossing a line. In the same way, the Palestinian diaspora community and the Islamic diaspora community here in Australia are off limits. They are people who are worried about their family. They're worried about the future of their people, and they want to see a better life for their community as well. But they cannot be held responsible for the actions of Hamas, and they absolutely should not be held responsible for any of the devastation that we're seeing as part of this conflict.

We're Australians, and we're Australians first. We need to remind ourselves that there needs to be space, as I believe the member for Kooyong outlined quite articulately. We are Australians, we are people and we have a shared humanity. We need to respect each other. I've seen people come into this place and say the most terrible things about the way in which we must be blamed for one another and that we must bring this conflict to Australia's shores and make it all about our political discourse. There are those in this place that have tried to do that, but that is the wrong approach. It will divide our communities and divide our country further. Rather, what we need to do in this place is to remind ourselves that each and every Australian and every minority group in Australia deserves to live with respect and dignity in our country and that social cohesion isn't just a term; it's a philosophy that we all must adhere to. It's a practice that we all must adhere to to ensure that each of us has a safe and respected place in Australian society.

I have seen the destruction of social cohesion happening over the last 11 months, over people's opinions of the war, but we must be better than that. We must respect each other as this conflict hopefully comes to an end.

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to speak on this important issue, and I thank the member for Macnamara for his very important contribution. This motion calls for better political debate and for making sure that race and ethnicity are not used as a political tool in this place, especially when it comes to populist positioning. It's absolutely vital that we elevate the national debate in this place and call out when race and ethnicity are being used as a political tool to polarise a debate, often relying on misinformation. As democratic representatives, we should strive to provide leadership on difficult issues and learn, from history, of the danger of using division for political gain.

In my maiden speech to this place, in 2019, I said:

While this may be a place of robust debate, it is time for a more respectful approach, and accountability.

That remains as true today as it was five years ago, and, sadly, the tenor of the debate has too often not improved sufficiently and certainly not met the level that our communities expect. The Set the standard report illustrated that we have a lot of work to do to reform the culture in this place. The Parliamentary Leadership Taskforce, on which I sit, has worked diligently to implement the recommendations of Set the standard, and another key recommendation will be actioned this week with debate on the bill to establish the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.

But, ultimately, culture has a way to go and can't just be about recommendations and reports. We've seen the implementation of the Stop it at the Start campaign, which seeks to tackle disrespect and asks young Australians to consider disrespect and to call it out. This is pivotal in this crisis of domestic violence that we have. But, as the member for Mackellar has said, we also need a campaign to stop it at the top. Disrespect starts from the leadership; it's given permission when leadership shows disrespect.

A few weeks ago the level of noise, interjection and yelling that I and others experienced in this chamber was nothing like I've experienced in any professional environment and was totally unacceptable. Many of us on the crossbench frequently experience that behaviour, and it is unacceptable in any other workplace, so it should be in this place. Yelling, snide remarks, interruptions and even intimidating behaviour on the floor of the House during divisions—this is just incredibly unacceptable. Parliamentary behaviour needs to be modelled from the top, from party leaders, deputy leaders, senior government and shadow ministers, and whips. Disrespect is not robust debate.

I was seeking to bring, at the time, a human face to the refugee debate that in this place is too often based on misinformation and fearmongering. The opposition's motion sought to target vulnerable Palestinian refugees in a way that we have not targeted any other group fleeing a war zone. I was calling for a humanitarian response to a conflict, for people seeking safety. That issue, as the member for Kooyong and the member for Macnamara have identified, is tearing at the fabric of our social cohesion because it is so polarising and so raw and emotional, and it's so important that race and ethnicity is not used in such a situation.

We do need to talk about racism in our society. Too often, calling out racism is castigated more than racist conduct itself. For those experiencing racism it is deeply traumatising and is a harmful experience. It harms social cohesion and it is a threat to national security. It's telling that those offended by racism being called out are too often not the ones who actually experience racism. We all pride ourselves on being part of a multicultural society, but, because of this multiculturalism and the celebration of it, many believe racism cannot possibly be a major issue, even if it probably exists. Yet a major survey recently conducted by the ABC found that 76 per cent of Australians from a non-European background have experienced racial discrimination based on their ethnicity. We often rightly call out antisemitism and Islamophobia, as many contributors to this debate have identified, but too rarely do we call out racism, especially racist policy.

That's why this is important. Policies that are inherently racist are designed to foster fear and hatred of a minority group, and the fear of the consequences of calling out that racism means the policy itself does not get examined and sufficiently called out, so I think this is important. I hope that we can move on to a more respectful debate in this place but also embrace our multiculturalism in more than just words alone.

Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge and thank the member for Kooyong for moving this motion on social cohesion. Since I was appointed the Special Envoy for Social Cohesion, apart from every problem in the country coming my way because it was interpreted as having such a broad remit, a lot of people have asked me, 'What does social cohesion mean?' Put simply, it means our ability to interact with each other as individuals and engage with each other as members of groups or members of organisations, or as parts of institutions which are made up of people, in a way that the interrelation and engagement is respectful and peaceful and, even if there are difference and disagreement, we navigate through that without reverting to hate speech, vilification, violence or even conflict, or without stoking division.

That's the essence of social cohesion, and, frankly, it is under threat. There are many challenges that are fraying our social cohesion: socioeconomic disparity, intergenerational unfairness and, of course, political populism, at both ends of the spectrum, for short-term political gain. There is a stoking of division and has been a creation of distrust in our democracy. And of course there's social media. There are great benefits in having our digital technologies that allow access to digital communications, but we know that algorithms in social media tend to move towards pulling people apart and exacerbating that division, discord and disharmony, and there are bad actors in our political and civil discourse who manipulate these platforms for that express purpose.

That's why we, as a government, and all of us here as parliamentarians in this place have a responsibility to be mindful that our language makes a difference and has an impact on our public life. So it was disappointing during even the last parliamentary sittings to see members of the opposition and members of minor political parties choose to do the opposite and instead stoke division and discord. Political leaders, rather than politicians, especially know that what they say has a real impact on people within society. Unfortunately, there are political actors—and they know who they are—that are not taking their responsibilities and their obligations seriously. Instead, for their own short-term political gain, they're contributing to that fraying of social cohesion and the distrust in our democracy, whether it's the Leader of the Opposition stoking division or the Leader of the Greens who talks about how the political establishment is letting people down or is failing people. I would ask the Leader of the Greens: hasn't he been part of the political establishment for the past 14 years as an elected member of this parliament? So, whether it's the opposition or the Greens or even the crossbench or the Labor Party, we all have a responsibility to our democracy, to not let it down, to not tear it down, to build it up.

Parliament will always involve robust debate. It will. And that's a good thing. It's something we shouldn't shy away from. But robust debate and respectful debate are not mutually exclusive. I agree with that. In footy terms, play the ball, not the man or the woman. I wish Carlton did more of that on the weekend—

The member for Kooyong knows they should have. It's crucial that as members of parliament we're doing everything we can to promote respect and social cohesion, not fan the flames of hate and division. There has to be a greater good-faith commitment to our society and to our democracy when we talk about social cohesion. Each of us, as political leaders—not politicians—or community leaders, business leaders or leaders in sports, has that obligation and responsibility to unite Australians, to bring people together, not to attack people based on their identity or their background or to, as often happens in this place by certain actors, spread misinformation and disinformation wilfully for short-term political gain. We've got to have that commitment and that obligation to the society we value so much.

We have a relatively harmonious and very cohesive multifaith and multi-ethnic pluralistic society, but it is under strain and it is under threat. We need to work together to protect it and enhance it from those challenges. Ultimately, in the end, this is really a moral question for all of us to answer: what commitment do we have to our communities and to our broader society? As parliamentarians, elected representatives here, we should have the highest level of commitment. There are normative and cultural behaviours that, as leaders, we must manifest. We must lead the way and be role models in order to achieve a more cohesive society.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allocated for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.