Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Well, here we go again. I say, 'Here we go again,' because it's critical that we see this particular move by a Labor government in the context of Australia's history: the things that have come before today in terms of the colonialisation of this country, the displacement and racism faced by First Nations people in this country, and the racism that to this very day is experienced by far too many migrants to Australia.

I had some conversations just last week, in my home state of Tasmania, with some of the leaders of the many multicultural communities who choose to make their home in Tasmania, and they were very clear to me about the dangers of being someone who is obviously from a different country or a different culture. They spoke about how they have faced increased violence, increased racially motivated attacks and increased racism over recent times, and they were very clear about the reasons that these racist attacks and increases in racism were occurring. They said to me, 'Nick, it's because of the public comments made by people like Senator Pauline Hanson and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton.'

They asked me to come into this place and call that behaviour out, so that's what I'm going to do tonight. I'm going to call that behaviour out. That is not acceptable from Senator Hanson, who built a political career on demonising people from Asia and has now shifted her focus to target Muslim people. It is not acceptable, and the Greens and I are calling it out. My great friend Senator Mehreen Faruqi has done an amazing job in calling it out, but Senator Faruqi shouldn't have to call this out, because it shouldn't be happening.