Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I want to rise in support of the spirit of the motion. I may not necessarily agree with every step of the wording that's used, but I think the spirit of it is resolutely clear. I would think that every member of this parliament is deeply distressed by what occurred in Perth on 26 January and what it could have been as well. I say this in context, of course, of what we have seen over the past couple of years. I'm not going to try and pretend—nor should anybody—that there haven't been past incidents of racism in this country; there absolutely have been. But, and I say this with a genuine sense of sadness, we have seen a spike in the level of racism in this country over the past few years on a scale that is very hard to imagine in our more recent history, particularly in the context of the rise of antisemitism, which of course we know led to tragedy in Bondi. And now we see very distressing signs in Perth—and I acknowledge that there is still a police investigation at the moment that may raise serious questions about what occurred in Perth.

Racism should be condemned by every good, decent, well-meaning Australian. I see the minister on the other side of the table nodding her head, and I do not doubt her sincerity for one second, knowing her previous experience in the area. And I'm sure it's shared very directly by other members in this chamber on the opposition side as well.

We do need to acknowledge, of course, that the matter is still being investigated, and it's very important that it's done. That is not to defer or delay; it's simply to acknowledge that we need to understand what the motivation was and what the intent was. But it's impossible to say that it was anything good. The investigation will go to the extent of the connections and matters beyond that.

What really distresses me is where we are seeing extremism and violence occur in this country. Many of the reasons that I and many members of parliament stood up for public office are that we're fighting for the type of country that we want to be. And the type of country and the type of nation that we want to be is one that's respectful, one where every Australian citizen can live out the fullness of their life. There certainly is no place for violence, whatever its motivation, in this country—whether it's, as some members quite justifiably regularly raise, family and domestic violence or the public acts of violence that we've seen more recently. Every single step of the way it comes down to leaders to stand up and condemn this violence. Not only is it the intent of so many people to cause specific harm; sitting behind that is the motivation of seeking to promote fear and to stop people living out the fullness of their lives.

That's why I wanted to speak on this motion—because I think the spirit of it is right. It behoves all of us in this parliament to stand up and fight for the type of country we want to be. But it isn't in our words; it is in our deeds. One of the things that has disappointed me over the past couple of years—and I've said in this parliament that I don't want to distract from this motion—is that I don't believe we've had enough strength in our leadership. And I think, as I've said in other debates, that extremism begets extremism. That's a very different thing from people's freedom to debate and contest the important issues and affairs that define our country and its future. But, when we don't stand up, it leads to a pathway through radicalisation or cultivation to the point of tragedy or near tragedy, as we have seen in this case. It behoves all of us to stand up for what we believe in and, importantly, for this country.

I want a nation that's built on respect. I want a nation where every Australian feels confident about how they're going to live their life—

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