Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) to a question without notice asked by Senator Ketter today relating to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (Queensland).

It wouldn't be a Senate sitting week without some exercise in semantics by Senator Brandis, and today's exercise involved asserting that despite there being absolutely no dispute whatsoever that the LNP in Queensland intends to preference One Nation ahead of Labor in 49 seats—I'll repeat that: One Nation ahead of Labor in 49 seats—the Attorney-General is willing to come into this chamber and say that there is no deal. He said this, I gather from his answer, on the basis that there's no agreement about a shared ministerial role and no agreement about a coalition of any kind. But it really doesn't negate the basic fact, which is this: in Queensland, the LNP has chosen to put One Nation ahead of Labor in 49 different seats, thus significantly increasing the chances that One Nation may play a significant role in the next parliament in Queensland. The practical consequence is that they're just rolling out the red carpet for One Nation there, just as they did in Western Australia and just as they did, I might say, in this chamber when they insisted on forcing through a set of reforms to the way the Senate is elected, which gave rise, in the full Senate election, to having three One Nation representatives sitting on the crossbench.

I say to coalition members, some of whom I am certain will be very concerned about this: you ought to be very, very cautious about bolstering the political opportunities for One Nation. However, you don't need political advice from me; you can make up your own minds. My concern is what they're doing to Australian public policy, because they are absolutely clear on what they think about Australia's multicultural society. They were very clear about their position back in July. They said:

Multiculturalism has failed everywhere. It is negative and divisive, a weight that is drowning our once safe and cohesive society. One Nation will abolish multiculturalism …

Shame on them for laying the blame for Australia's problems at the feet of our ethnic communities. We couldn't find harder workers or more loyal citizens than our ethnic communities. And shame on One Nation for asserting that in their election material. But the greater shame lies with the LNP, willing to give One Nation a leg-up into the Queensland parliament.

One Nation have also promised to abolish the Racial Discrimination Act. In a week where Australians have overwhelmingly rejected discrimination, how extraordinary it is that the coalition is willing to tolerate arrangements that politically support a party committed to removing one of the most important protections against race based discrimination. It's absolutely shameful. The reassurances from Senator Brandis really ring hollow, because, in the end, you can talk all you like about how committed the coalition is under Malcolm Turnbull, supporting multiculturalism—blah, blah, blah—but the practical truth is that, through their political actions, their party will go to voters in Queensland, just a short while from now, and say to them, 'We recommend that you preference One Nation above Labor. We recommend that you cast your vote in a way that will maximise the opportunities for One Nation to enter parliament.' I can tell you what the people of New South Wales will think. Fifty-four per cent of people in New South Wales have one or both parents born overseas, and they understand absolutely that when One Nation make derogatory comments about multicultural communities and talk about winding back protections for multicultural communities, they're talking about them—the multicultural communities in my state of New South Wales.

One person who might want to give a bit of thought to how he's going explain this position is Mr Alexander. As I understand it, John Alexander intends to stand again in the seat of Bennelong, where there'll be a by-election on 16 December. Mr Alexander will have to explain to the 75 per cent of people in Bennelong who've got one or both parents born overseas why it is that his party associates itself so closely with One Nation when an election is going on in Queensland and why it associates itself with One Nation here in this chamber, allowing them to shape and drive a coalition policy that is hostile to multiculturalism and hostile to multicultural communities. I tell you what—I don't think they're going to be very forgiving of such a position.