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

Don't bury your head in the sand. Don't choose ignorance and fear. That is the obvious path. Choose one that promotes peace; one that promotes inclusion and diversity. Get to know a Muslim person. Speak to them. They will welcome you into their home. You will see that, like you, they share a common humanity and have the same dreams and hopes for their families: to put a roof over their head, to feed their children, to give them an education and to contribute to this country.

Don't base legislation in this place on tired stereotypes that are based on fear and prejudice. I get that, right now, Muslims are an easy target. People in this place are falling over themselves to see who can be the most vicious and the most hateful towards our fellow Australians. But that is the low road. Take the high road. This bill is not about protecting people or keeping people safe. This is about targeting people. This bill targets women.

Let me finish with the words of a really inspiring young Muslim woman, Tasneem Chopra. She is the chair of the Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights. It is an outstanding organisation that works with, and advocates for, Muslim women on a range of casework, research, outreach and referral services. In response to this bill, she said that in their experience, the issue 'of forced faced coverings has not emerged as an issue' within the community. But she says: 'What has emerged are the countless cases of discrimination, vilification and violence experienced by women from the wider public. Further, the ongoing policing of women's choice of dress, equating personal expressions of faith with loyalty to Australia, as if being Muslim and being Australian were inalienable, remains a gross abuse of human rights, experienced as state-sanctioned violence. Any proposed curtailment of freedom of movement premised on faith-based dress codes is antithetical to the democratic freedoms this nation champions.'

Australia's greatest quality is the openness of our society. We are a free, open society; an inclusive society. We are a nation founded by immigrants. We are a nation that comes together to celebrate the many diverse cultures that make Australia home. This country is better because of the contribution of people from right around the world. It is what makes us the most successful multicultural nation on earth; indeed, the most successful nation on earth. So I just say again to all those people in this place who seek to use fear and division—perhaps not intentionally, but because of their own prejudices, insecurities and anxieties—open your heart and your mind, talk to somebody who might be different from you but shares the same dreams, goals and aspirations, and what you will find is that we all share a common humanity. And that is something to be celebrated.