Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The government will be supporting the motion moved by Senator Wong. Australia is a great migrant nation. Australia is a country which has welcomed people from all corners of the world. Australia is a country where, whatever your background, you will have the opportunity to contribute, to reach your full potential and to build a life for yourself and your family. Ours is a nation where all Australians, whatever their background, should be judged by the content of their character and their actions and not by the colour of their skin, their religious faith or any other consideration. It is in that spirit that, on behalf of the government, I'm speaking in support of this motion.

This chamber in many ways is a true reflection of what a great migrant nation we are. We have in this chamber representatives of our Indigenous community. We have in this chamber representatives of Australians whose families have been here for generations. They are the descendants of migrants who came to Australia more than 100 years ago. We have in this chamber first-generation migrants from Kenya, Malaysia, Belgium, Germany and Scotland. What a great country we are where first-generation Australians can join First Australians and those Australians whose families have lived here for more than 100 years and all work together to make our great country an even better country.

I very much support the sentiment in the motion that says that, since the Holt government, with the support of the Labor Party at the time, initiated the dismantling of the White Australia policy, Australia has become a better country. It has served us well as a country domestically and it has served us well as a country internationally. Let's continue to build on what makes us strong. Let's not go back to something that we made the right decision to dismantle some decades ago.