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

Pursuant to contingent notice, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Leader of the Australian Greens moving a motion to provide for the consideration of a matter; namely, a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the censure of Senator Anning.

Senator Anning's racist hate speech has no place in a decent society, let alone in the Australian parliament. These are comments that not only offend Jewish people, Muslims and immigrants but also attack the very essence of who we are. Just look at the language which was used here. Senator Anning chose to attack Muslim immigrants, using the language that the Nazis used to justify the extermination of Jews in Europe. That was unthinkable only a few short years ago, and yet here we are in the nation's parliament with those deeply offensive anti-Semitic views expressed and with the support of members of the crossbench. If it's hate speech outside the parliament, it's hate speech inside the parliament.

Mr President, I just want you to put yourself in the shoes of a young Muslim woman on her way to work this morning, being told that as a Muslim Australian she is not welcome here. Put yourself in the shoes of a holocaust survivor, where the actions of the Nazis were used to justify an attack on Australian immigration. Put yourself in the shoes of anyone who has directly experienced racism. I take this really personally. As a 12-year-old kid, when a schoolmate comes up to you and spits at you and calls you a wog and tells you to go back to where you come from, that's a memory that is burnt into your consciousness and never leaves you. We, as a party, are about to welcome a Muslim woman to this chamber. When we meet again, we will be welcoming Mehreen Faruqi, a proud Muslim Australian who has made an enormous contribution to this country, and yet she'll be entering into an environment where a member of this place has expressed those hateful views.

We're at a dangerous place in Australian history right now. We agree absolutely with the sentiments of the Race Discrimination Commissioner. Race politics is on the rise and it's being exploited for base political gain. Race baiting is alive and well right now in the Australian parliament. Let's ask ourselves some hard questions about why it's happening. When a nationally syndicated television outlet gives a platform to neo-Nazis, it makes it easier for the speech we heard yesterday. When the Prime Minister of this country starts flaming tensions around so-called African gangs, he makes it easier for the speech we heard yesterday. When the immigration minister says that refugees are dole bludgers or that Lebanese Muslims shouldn't have been settled here in Australia, he makes it easier for the speech that we heard yesterday. He gives it permission.

The question for us is: what are we going to do about it? We heard some heartfelt speeches about why those comments have no place in a decent society. We heard broad condemnation about those comments—about the race hate, as it was named by many speakers—from Senator Anning. The Greens will be moving for a code of conduct. We think it is long overdue that, in this chamber, we set a standard for what we believe is acceptable when it comes to racism, sexism and other discriminatory behaviour. We've seen too much of it over recent days and weeks. It's about time we came together and worked as a Senate to codify a set of behaviours that we think are acceptable and a set of unacceptable behaviours that deserve some sort of sanction. That is why we believe that it is absolutely critical that we now come together as a parliament and censure the speech that was made yesterday and censure Senator Anning for that behaviour.

We are at a very critical point in our history. We saw the power of people coming together and condemning the views that we heard yesterday. But speeches and hand-wringing are not enough; we need to do more. I call on all members of this place to make it very clear that the speech that we heard yesterday is condemned in the strongest possible terms. While we don't do this lightly, we believe a censure motion is the most appropriate tool for us to do that. We call on the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the National Party and the crossbench to support it.