Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that on Thursday June 11th the Prime Minister said in a radio interview that "there was no slavery in Australia",

(b) acknowledges that:

(i) First Nations peoples worked on farms and pastoral stations for rations instead of wages; they were traded amongst settlers, with children being taken from their families and moved across the country to work,

(ii) First Nations peoples' wages were stolen,

(iii) First Nations peoples had restrictions placed on them such as restrictions on movement and choice — for example people had to apply for permission to travel and what they could purchase and where they could live,

(iv) First Nations peoples were subject to forced labour,

(v) at least 60,000 South Sea islanders were taken to Australia from 1857 to 1908, where they worked largely in cotton, sugar and pastoral industries in a process named 'blackbirding', and

(vi) there are many other examples of such abuse; and

(c) calls on the Prime Minister to withdraw these comments, apologise and engage in a genuine process of truth-telling about Australia's history.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for 90 seconds.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister said at a press conference on 12 June:

In Australia, we know we have had problems in our past. We have acknowledged those and, indeed, in our Federal Parliament we have acknowledged those. I've always said we need to look at our history. The comments I was referring to was to how the New South Wales settlement was first established and the views that were communicated at the time, informing the New South Wales colony, and if you go back to people like William Wilberforce and others, they were very involved in that first fleet expedition and one of the principles was to be that Australia or in that case, New South Wales, was not to have lawful slavery. And that was indeed the case. There was not the laws that have ever approved of slavery in this country.

So I don't intend to get into the history wars, my comments were not intended to give offence and if they did I deeply regret that and apologise for that. This is not about getting into the history wars. I was simply trying to make the point that Australia, yes, we have had issues in our history. We have acknowledged them. I have acknowledged them. And we need to address them and, particularly those who I work closely with in this area, would know that, personally, I have been heavily invested in these issues.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One Nation supports this motion. The Queensland state parliament's member for the electorate of Mirani is a direct descendant of the Vanuatu Kanaks blackbirded into slavery to work on North Queensland cane fields in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. Stephen Andrew is proud of his ancestry and proud of his service to our state and country in parliament and in the North Queensland community, where he proudly lives a free man. One Nation, the people of Mirani and I are proud of Steve Andrew's service to our state and country. He and we are proud of his heritage. He and we want our country's history to be told honestly.

Question agreed to.