Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to this debate and associate myself with the comments made by my Greens colleagues here. You know there's an election coming when the race baiting really starts heating up. You know there's an election coming when the Leader of the Opposition, rather than focusing on what he will do to help relieve the cost-of-living pressures on everyday Australians, goes for the lazy option, the low option and the heartless option of attacking refugees.

Mr Dutton's comments this morning, deliberately used to inflame division, hatred and fear, are despicable, are racist and are unbecoming of anyone who wants to become this nation's Prime Minister. But, of course, that's all Mr Peter Dutton has. He doesn't have a plan for reducing the cost of living for Australians. He doesn't have a plan for making sure childcare workers get paid better. He doesn't have a plan for making sure supermarkets stop gouging at the checkout. He doesn't have a plan to stop rents rising. He doesn't have a plan to fund our universities so that our kids can get a decent education without having mountains of debt. He doesn't have a plan for making sure that people can go to the doctor and not have to pay through the nose. He doesn't have a plan for making sure you can go to the dentist and afford it or ensure that your kid can get the help they need if they're struggling with their mental health. No, he doesn't have a plan for any of this. He doesn't actually care. He wants to take the lazy, the nasty and the fearful option, and that is to inflame divisions in this country, to blame migrants, to beat up on refugees and to incite a debate about whether people facing war and persecution should be given sanctuary and safety.

Of course, unlike a government that might have a spine to stand up against this, we see the Labor Party going weak at the knees and rolling out soft-ball policy after soft-ball policy that echo some of that dog whistling. That's why we're moving this disallowance today—because of the message it sends. This move to put the hardship and burden on the migrants coming to this country plays into that exhibition of fear and hatred displayed by Mr Dutton.

There has not been an opportunity to race-bait that Mr Dutton hasn't taken. He'll never miss an opportunity to whip up fear and hatred. So why does the Labor government keep giving him the opportunity?

Mr Dutton is leading the nasty party. That's for sure. And the only book they've got to play in this election is blaming migrants, refugees and people fleeing war and persecution for all of the problems, which of course is ludicrous. It's wrong. Where is the opposition's debate this week in the parliament? We haven't been here for five or six weeks. Rather than having a debate about tackling the cost of living, we have the Leader of the Opposition wanting to whip up racist fearmongering. He's not blowing the dog whistle; he's blowing the foghorn, and there will be more of it as we get closer and closer to this election. The foghorn of racism and fearmongering will get louder, and I implore the Labor Party: don't fall for his nasty tricks. Don't fall for it. Don't get sucked in by the hatred of the nasty party, of the laziness of the race baiters, of the fear mongering, of a party that has never ever under the leadership of Peter Dutton stood up for our proud, multicultural society, our community. He wants us to be divided. Don't fall for the nasty party's nasty tricks.