Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The great civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King said:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Of all his famous quotes, this is Martin Luther King's finest, because it goes to the heart of what really matters—the individual and not the identity. That is the difference between the coalition and the Labor-Greens alliance. We believe in the individual, based on mutual respect, whereas they prejudge people, based on identity, and then attack that identity. Liberal democracies are built on the notion all people are created equal. Respect for the individual and how that individual treats other individuals is the foundation of a fair society.

It was this belief that drove great thinkers like Locke and Voltaire and great statesmen like Washington and Jefferson to argue and fight to give people the right to vote, the protection of property and the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of association. Who can forget the words of the great American forefathers when they wrote:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed … with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

You can contrast these quotes with Senator Wong's provocative comments:

We are no longer trapped in the ignorance of our own assumptions and prejudice, premised on the underlying supremacism of the narrative that white people know best.

Senator Wong shows her own ignorance and prejudice by assuming non-Indigenous Australians are ignorant and prejudiced. To assume that non-Indigenous Australians believe in some supremacist narrative is an insult to our tolerant way of life—

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Urquhart is raising a point of order.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would ask that the senator withdraw that. He is reflecting on another member of this chamber.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Rennick, would you like to consider the comments that you've made. I don't want you to repeat them, but would you consider withdrawing those.

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, because I didn't reflect on the person, I reflected on the comments, which are in Hansard.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Rennick, I ask you to reflect on the language that you are using. I think we've had demonstrated, in this chamber this morning, some unparliamentary comments, so I'd ask you to reflect on the language that you're using. You have the call.

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To assume that non-Indigenous Australians believe in some supremacist narrative is an insult to our tolerant way of life. I don't see it reflected amongst everyday Australians at all, and it certainly wasn't in my maiden speech, where I paid tribute to the Middle East civilisations:

As the birthplace of writing, irrigation, astronomy, algebra and our major religions, the Middle East is the cradle of our civilisation.

Furthermore, I said:

The undeniable truth I learnt from my travels is that we're all the same. We all want a roof over our head, food in our stomach and a better life for our children. What binds us together is much more than what drives us apart. We must promote a unified Australia, rather than ideologies that seek to divide us.

There was nothing supremacist about our pioneering fathers when they came here as convicts, refugees or fleeing famine, like my own ancestors who sought a better life like many of today's first-generation immigrants. People shouldn't be prejudged by a label, by a race, by a religion, by their sexuality or by where they came from. Furthermore, they shouldn't be held to account for the actions of their forefathers, who lived in a different time and in different circumstances. Yet that is exactly what many others on that side of the chamber seek to do—play identity politics instead of governing for all people. Those who complain about our past, especially in this chamber, have no right to belittle our pioneering forefathers, whose toil and sacrifices, albeit with flaws and injustices, made this country what it is today and is the reason they came here. It's not how I choose to remember those who came before us. Indeed, thanks to technological advances due to empirical science and discovery that flourished under the Reformation, the last 300 years have seen life expectancy double and slavery abolished in most parts of the world.

If those opposite really cared about the welfare of Indigenous Australians and wanted to help, they would speak up about child abuse and neglect in those communities. As per the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Aboriginal children are more likely to be victims of child abuse, neglect and sexual assault. During 2011-12, Indigenous children aged zero to 17 were nearly eight times as likely as non-Indigenous children to be the subject of substantiated child abuse or neglect. In 2012, rates of sexual assault reported to police among Indigenous children aged zero to nine in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory was two to four times higher than rates among non-Indigenous children in these jurisdictions.

Virtue signalling about the location of flags, about words in the national anthem or about another chamber in this place is avoiding the real issue—the welfare of every person in this country, regardless of the colour of their skin. What matters is that children are safe in their homes, are healthy, are educated and, most importantly, have the love and support of their communities and parents. There is no place in this country or this chamber for hate, blame or guilt. Identity politics cloaked behind virtue signalling over empty gestures and false arguments will do nothing to close the gap and is not the way forward. The Morrison government is committed to closing the gap and to dealing with the issues that really matter.

We live in the greatest of times. No other time in history has seen humans enjoy so many comforts, such good health and so many freedoms, yet there is a destructive activism, promoted by those opposite, who want to destroy these hard-won freedoms in order to impose their views and will over the people. They are doing this through identity politics in order to divide and conquer those who value free thought and individual liberty. Statements like 'Always was, always will be' will do nothing to promote inclusivity and tolerance. The idea promoted by the likes of SBS that you're in someone else's country is wrong and intimidating. This country belongs to every Australian, regardless of their race or background.

It's time for a new dialogue in Australia, one that looks to mutual respect between individuals and future opportunities free from identity politics. It's why the Labor Party should replace Senator Wong with Senator Polley. Senator Polley's commitment to tolerance and inclusivity was demonstrated earlier this year when she tweeted, 'Every life matters no matter what the colour of your skin is.' The Labor Party's commitment to intolerance and divisiveness was demonstrated when they made her take that tweet down. Is there no Labor politician who has the courage to push back on identity politics?

Where you were born doesn't define you. What defines you is your attitude and your willingness to treat people with respect and without prejudice, especially as to where they came from. Former LNP senator and niece of the great Neville Bonner, Joanna Lindgren, previously said in this chamber:

For those who harbour internal guilt due to past injustices, or those who think they are doing good, let me say this: you are creating division and resentment … We want education, opportunity and employment, not songs.

Songs—

or flags—

will not change a single thing. Will playing that song at a Doomadgee state school or in the Doomadgee area change the alcohol problem they struggle with? Will playing that song at Woodridge raise the employment opportunities? Will it help the Quandamooka people of Stradbroke Island have employment when the sand mining is brought to an end?

…   …   …

What hope is generated from this? … as an Aboriginal person, I want to see my culture and language preserved and represented, and not used as a political football.