House debates

Thursday, 10 August 2017

Bills

Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Requirements for Australian Citizenship and Other Measures) Bill 2017; Second Reading

1:02 pm

Photo of Linda BurneyLinda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with my colleagues on this side of the House in expressing outrage at this bill. But it is not surprising. I am not surprised at all that the government has submitted this bill, because of the attitude it displays to anyone other than what it believes an Australian should be, should aspire to and, in many ways, should look like. I think it is one of the biggest dog whistles I have seen in the 12 months that I have been a member of this House. There is no other way to describe it. The stupidity, the dishonesty and the cowardliness of this bill are writ large. I'm going to address those particular points as I move through my contribution to this debate.

The first issue is dishonesty. Let us be clear how this bill came about. This bill has been presented to us and to the Australian public as being about keeping our borders safe, about protecting Australia and about the national interest in terms of security. That is patently untrue. This bill was not requested by any of our security agencies. It came out of a report that was put together by two people—Senator Fierravanti-Wells, and, I understand, Philip Ruddock. How can this be portrayed as being in the national security interest when it was not a request or a recommendation from any of our security agencies and has not been suggested by any of our security agencies? So let's get rid of that bit of dishonesty immediately.

Why is this bill stupid?

It is stupid because we know—as all of the speakers on this side of the House have articulated in their contributions—that, for anyone to become a citizen, they have to be a permanent resident first. I know that that has been said on a number of occasions, but it cannot be said enough. And to become a permanent resident takes some doing: it takes some time, and it also requires an enormous amount of vetting before somebody becomes a permanent resident. Yet now the minister is saying that, for citizenship: 'We're going to really test people; we're going to expect ridiculous levels of English language competency, and we're going to test for Australian values in someone who has already been a permanent resident for some time and has also jumped through many hoops to be on any class of visa in Australia.' So let's just get rid of that bit of dishonesty and stupidity immediately.

Why is it cowardly? It is cowardly because it wants to put in place, as has been well articulated, the notion of signing up to a whole set of Australian values. Who has designed that? Who makes decisions on what Australian values are? The other evening, in the Labor caucus room—and I am very, very pleased to be able to say this—there was a fabulous event put on by some of our colleagues called the Bankstown Poetry Slam. It was one of the most uplifting, inspiring events I have been to. There were young people from Bankstown, from very many different cultural backgrounds, speaking in poetry, all of it written by them, about what it means to them to be in Australia—what it means for them and their family to have Australian citizenship. There was one young Muslim woman who spoke about being cedar—as in the tree—in amongst eucalyptus. That was just one of the most beautiful images. She spoke strongly of her love for this country. There was another young Muslim woman who said, 'I am Australia,' and then spoke about how she is Australia. They love this country. As we, on this side of the House, respect: you don't forget who you are, you don't forget where you come from, you hold on to memory and you hold on to language. But that does not mean that Australia is not the home and not the allegiance of the people that this bill is aimed against. So that is cowardly—to hide behind an English language test that's unreasonable and to hide behind a set of values that someone has decided on without actually looking at the reality of this country.

Why is it—and I did not say this—politically stupid? It is stupid—and many of the people on the other side of the House in the coalition know it is stupid and unnecessary, and politically stupid—because many of you represent, as many of us on this side of the House represent, communities that are incredibly diverse. And isn't that what we want this parliament to be? Isn't that what should be reflected from this parliament? This parliament should embrace diversity. It should understand that the reality of this country is diversity, the strength of this country is diversity, and the make-up and the beauty and the vibrancy of this country is diversity. And yet those in the coalition have brought into this place a piece of legislation that goes against everything that this nation has built and everything that this nation stands for. And that is politically stupid. I hope that when it comes to the time of casting a ballot that people will remember who it was and which party decided that Australia was going to go back to a very long time ago—an ugly time in this country.

Prior to becoming the member for Barton, I was the member for Canterbury, and Canterbury's city logo is 'City of Diversity'. The same could be said for Barton, and the same could be said for many of our electorates. For example, in the seat of Barton—and I had a really close look at this—of the 234,000 Chinese people from mainland China that live in Australia, 20,000 of those people live in the electorate of Barton. The second-largest and fastest-growing group of people in Barton are the people from Nepal. We have over 6,000 people from Nepal; over 5,000 people from Greece; and nearly 4,000 people from Lebanon, and people from Macedonia, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Korea, Italy and the list goes on—Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

They are the people who believe in democracy. They are the people who have taken the enormous step, the hardest step, of leaving their country, their loved ones and everything that they know to come to a place for a better opportunity. And you will not speak to any migrant or to anyone that has chosen Australia as their home who does not say, 'I came here because I wanted to give my family and my children a better opportunity.' Without exception, that's what people will say to you. And yet we are debating a bill in this House that is so odious and that is so insulting to those people, who are Australians. They are Australians; they love this country and they pledge allegiance to this country in every way possible.

Who do those opposite think that the small businesses in many of our electorates are owned by, and who works in them seven days a week? Who do they think many of the children are in our schools? Who do they think their parents are? They are people who have chosen—in some cases, many had no choice—to leave the places that they loved for safety and security. So, if it is passed, this bill has the potential to create a subgroup of people—of stateless people—in this country that does not exist now.

Fair go; egalitarianism; helping your mate: these are the things that we hear all the time and that are supposed to represent this country. This bill represents none of that—none! It goes against everything that we supposedly stand for as a nation—everything! And that is why it is, as I said, duplicitous, why it is stupid, why it is dishonest and why it is cowardly.

I will finish on a couple of points, just to wrap up what I've got to say. To me, it seems that political bravery would be for those on the other side to say, 'We know and we agree with what Labor people are saying, but we can't stand up for it within our party.' In politics you've got to know what your Rubicon is, and it seems to me that this should be one of such moments—one of such momentous moments, I have to say.

Citizenship of Australia is the goal for so many. We have all been, on both sides of this place, to citizenship ceremonies. There is nothing more uplifting and there is nothing that will put more of a lump in your throat than when you see families bringing their children with pride, holding the little ones' hands, to become Australian citizens. Their faces tell the story of their pride and of their commitment to this country. I know many people have read out the pledge that is made at those citizenship ceremonies. The pledge is taken so seriously by the people.

From this time forward I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey.

Or:

From this time forward, under God, I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey.

People do not say those words and cross their fingers behind their backs. People say those words with pride and joy—and often tears on their faces because of that pride and joy.

How dare the government stomp on that? How dare the government think they have the right to determine who should be an Australian, what that value is, and, most importantly, the nature of our society? This country is an amazing place. Its history, like all countries, is not always shining. But when you put it together and when you walk down the streets of Hurstville or when you walk down the streets of any place in this nation, you will see that we are a nation that has been built on the incredible foundations of first peoples. And then layer, by layer, by layer migration over the last 230 years has melded us into a place that could be destroyed and undermined by this stupid, odious, dishonest and cowardly bill.

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