Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Let me start with a statement of what I believe. I believe that all of the groups of people that have welcomed Australia and that we have welcomed, since the end of the White Australia policy, have immeasurably enriched Australia's vibrant, uniquely successful multicultural democracy. We are a better, stronger, richer nation for their presence.

Yet here we are today, globally and in Australia, a long way from the consensus on immigration, on multiculturalism and the proven benefits that migrants from right around the world have brought to Australia. I worry that we have not yet reached the low point in this government's attack on multiculturalism. I worry that we have further to go. It is now becoming clear that we have a government that has chosen not to fight extreme views on the right of Australian politics but to openly adopt their language and extremism.

We are having a debate now around the Racial Discrimination Act. We have MPs, in this place, who want to dilute protections against racial discrimination, who want to give the green light to hate speech, who want to legitimise views that were previously unthinkable. But we need to remember that this debate comes at a cost. Yes, it might be a deliberate and calculated strategy to win back One Nation voters, but we should also recognise that it incites hostility and division between communities, and that leads to further hostilities and divisions. It has a very dangerous consequence that affects people's lives in very significant ways.

When our nation's leaders say such abhorrent things as one group of people should never have come to Australia, because of the sins of the children or grandchildren, or that people coming to this country are stealing our jobs and are taking away access to services for other Australians, we create fear and division within our community. It is no wonder that so many people within our community are now experiencing targeted attacks on the basis of the colour of their skin or the god that they pray to.

It is critical now, at this time more than ever, that we remind ourselves that the words uttered in this place have an impact, that they sting, that they can cut very deeply, that they can shape the lived experiences of those people who are suffering through racism. We are not talking about isolated racism, we are talking about ongoing institutional, systemic, ideological attacks on people. Let us recognise that at the heart of this is Islamophobia.

I want to tell you about an exceptionally intelligent and articulate young woman who shared her experiences of Islamophobia with me. Sadly, her experiences are not unique. We in these privileged positions need to understand the cause of racism and the level of racism that members of our community are experiencing every day. This young woman was born and raised in Melbourne. She went to a local primary school and then to a private girls school.

She was 11 years old when 9/11 happened. As an 11-year-old she said she had no idea that an event on the other side of the world, that had nothing to do with her, would turn her world upside down. The bullying began from that day. As an 11-year-old child she was isolated from her friends. She remembers being ridiculed by peers about her faith. She remembers being asked absurd, silly questions, like whether she was hiding Osama bin Laden in her backyard. It is a memory that sticks with her. She remembers that overwhelming feeling of fear and sadness as a child, knowing that things were going to be different for her forever.

She went on to study engineering at university. A few days into her first job as an engineer she was making a cup of coffee, at her new workplace, when an older colleague came into the kitchen and told her that Arabs suck. She was confused because she herself was not an Arab. She laughed nervously, politely. The man then said to her that the reason that she had to wear a headscarf was that Arab men cannot control their sexual desires. She was shocked and, a few days into her new job, she did not know what to do in response to this abuse. But the abuse continued. A tirade finished with, 'You're all going to be wiped off this earth in a few years, and I'll be the one to make sure of it.' The young woman returned to her desk. She cried, wondering how she would ever fit into a workplace or indeed into a country where this was acceptable office banter. When she finally was advised to report the incident, the man was moved to a different office. This is the experience of a young person straight out of university settling into working life. Just ask yourself whether it is appropriate that she should have to endure such a hateful attack from someone she worked with.

She then talks about an account where she was in Melbourne's CBD on Elizabeth Street in her lunchbreak, on the phone to a friend and waiting for a tram. A man nearby spotted her and a few other people at the stop who he thought were not Australian. He yelled out at them that there was a 'towel head, an Asian, an Indian and an African' at the tram stop and he then walked intimidatingly towards this young woman. He stood next to her, accused her of having a ticking time bomb under her towel, and continued to make derogatory comments about her hijab and her religion. She tried to ignore him, but the man continued to pursue her. When she eventually confronted him in fear of her safety and started to walk away from the scene, she was followed and chased down Elizabeth Street until she reached the safety of her workplace. This is the experience of a 27-year-old woman living in Australia today, and it is not unique. These stories are occurring all around the country. This country is her home and our challenge is to make sure that she feels at home here.

I want to ensure that we have a swift return to that inclusive society where we celebrate and cherish our diversity, where we recognise that our diversity is our strength, and where we recognise that people from all around the world have made us a stronger, better, richer country. But to do this those of us in privileged positions have to condemn hateful speech, not condone it and not legitimise it. We have to condemn it whether it is on the street, in the workplace or even here in the parliament. We must always take a stand. If anything, the debate in this parliament should be about strengthening protections against racial discrimination. We should be strengthening protections against Islamophobia, against anti-Semitism and against all forms of discrimination.

For multiculturalism to work, it requires effort, it requires commitment and it requires those of us in positions of leadership to ensure that we take a stand against those hateful voices in our community who would choose to divide us. It is for that reason that I will continue to share people's experience of racism here in Australia to help those members of our community understand that their words matter. In the face of attacks against those communities that have made Australia such a wonderful multicultural nation, we Greens say to those communities, 'We stand with you'.