Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The election of Donald Trump last year struck fear into the hearts of millions in the US and across the world—particularly people of colour, women, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people and those who care about our climate. This fear was justified. On just his first day in office, he exited the US from the Paris climate treaty, repealed measures that supported racial equity and that addressed discrimination against trans and intersex people, issued orders to increase deportations, expanded the death penalty, removed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers and so much more. Every one of these actions was catastrophic.

This is a man who is deeply unfit for any public office, let alone the most powerful one. This is a man who belongs not in the oval office but behind bars. For Trump, every tragedy is turned into a new front in a culture war. Every calamity is an opportunity to play politics and attack marginalised communities. We saw that with his despicable response to the recent plane crash in Washington, which he baselessly blamed on the Federal Aviation Administration's diversity push and hiring of air traffic controllers with a disability. How utterly contemptible to attack a community that is already underrepresented in the workforce and discriminated against!

Trump's actions have legitimised and emboldened racist, ableist, homophobic filth everywhere. Immigrants, trans people and other minorities have been less safe since Trump came to power. We must do everything we can to keep Trumpian hate, science denial and billionaire-loving politics out of this country.

The most urgent task in that regard is to keep Dutton's mini-Trump Liberals out at this election. Disturbingly, Dutton has already started mirroring the culture warfare with his recent attacks on the Public Service's culture, diversity and inclusion workforce. Another urgent task is to fearlessly call out Trump's dangerous agenda, but so far only the Greens have had the courage to do that in here. The Albanese government must stand up to the US empire, rip up the cooked AUKUS deal and condemn Trump's policies in the harshest terms possible. That's what needs to be done.