Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I want to start by apologising to the many multicultural, multifaith people in Australia for the revolting diatribe we've heard today from the member for Kennedy. I think it is absolutely disgraceful that on the floor of this place, the House for the representatives of all Australians, we have heard comments that, in my opinion, are so deeply racist and so incredibly wrong. The irony of what is often thrown at migrants, who come here to make Australia bigger, better and greater, is that many people born here have failed to actually look at the pledge they take to become Australian citizens and the commitment they make to Australia.

I would invite the member for Kennedy to have a think about the pledge for people to become Australian citizens. It reads:

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.

That includes freedom of religion. It includes respecting people's rights to have differences of opinion, differences of faith, and different cultures and traditions. It means respecting those rights and liberties. Yet, in the very tone of this MPI today, he calls for no migration without assimilation. That is directly contradictory to that very pledge we ask new Australians to make to the Australian people. As a fifth-generation Australian, I find it deeply offensive. It is important that we come and speak out. It is so important that we call out when this kind of rhetoric and language is simply wrong.

There are a lot of false facts and false information to suit a populist narrative around migration and immigration. The census data shows that, in fact, we do not have record levels of immigration. We do not have a problem that is out of control. And we know in so many aspects of our economy and our services, we desperately rely on immigration to bring skilled visas and people that come and deliver services, start businesses and do incredible service to the Australian community. When I meet with chambers of commerce and small businesses, they consistently highlight that accessible and efficient migration pathways are critical for keeping businesses open, sustaining regional communities and supporting local job creation.

We have to call out misinformation where systemic policy failures have led to poor infrastructure, housing issues and crises that are then blamed on migration. Blame it on the others, because that's the easiest thing to do. We know projected net overseas migration has now come back to levels that are reasonably consistent with pre-COVID levels. It's really important that we don't let those false facts take on a narrative, which is simply not true, that somehow the problems we have fundamentally and structurally within our community and our economy are the cause of others. We know we have complex challenges in housing affordability, infrastructure pressures and urban congestion, but they stem from planning and policy decisions. They cannot be blamed on migration or immigration.

We know that, in periods of economic uncertainty, we often see the rise of antimigrant rhetoric. As sure as night follows day, that is what we're seeing in this place. We're seeing it in the other place, with other members of the parliament, and we've seen it today again with the member for Kennedy. We know from social research that such narratives are incredibly harmful. They distort public understanding of our immigration system, and they weaken our social cohesion. Migration intake must be complemented with adjacent planning and infrastructure investments such as road transport projects, child care and public spaces. No-one is denying that. But to lay the blame of structural policy failures on migration is simply wrong. For the member for Kennedy to then imply the assimilation aspect of his MPI is deeply, deeply concerning, because what that really implies is that we should be lose our multidimensional aspect, and I— (Time expired)

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