David Moncrieff (Hughes, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. How is the Albanese Labor government helping to protect communities from people who would seek to undermine social cohesion and spread hatred?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hughes. It's good to have somebody so committed to bringing people together, in his own community as well.

People may have seen that AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett is currently heading off to the Interpol conference. Working with police around the world, she has indicated, among other issues, that she'll work 'to ask relevant partners to share more information about hate groups, including Nazi supporters, and to provide advice from their lessons learned over the years.' As well as this being a police issue, it's been an extraordinary issue in the Australian community for scenes that we have seen recently.

Earlier this month, there was a disgusting demonstration of Neo-Nazism and racism on display outside the New South Wales parliament in Sydney. Rows of men, evenly spaced and all clad in black with the same blank and hateful expressions, held an antisemitic banner and chanted slogans of the Hitler youth. One of the participants was not an Australian citizen. He was a visa holder, he was a guest in this country, and he is no longer welcome here. His visa was cancelled, and the Australian Border Force detained him. The man is currently in immigration detention awaiting removal from our country. There's a really simple principle where, if you're on a visa, you're a guest in the country. And, just like if you're a guest in somebody's home, if you turn up to wreck the place, you'll be asked to leave.

We're setting a standard for Australia. The last thing people want is for the conflicts or hatreds from overseas to be imported here. Modern Australia and multicultural Australia are the same thing, and someone who gets involved in that sort of movement should not pretend that somehow they are being patriotic about our country. They are people who hate modern Australia. The priority of this government and, I would say, this parliament is to defend the right of every Australian to be safe and to feel safe. The Neo-Nazi who is now in immigration detention had a view that there are people who should leave Australia. Well, he can lead by example and leave by example.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—The Minister is to be commended on his swift and urgent action in relation to this. We stand ready to assist the government—especially to get to the bottom of exactly how a movement like the Nazi movement can officially apply for and have a protest outside New South Wales parliament—to make sure that these extremists are tackled in every way possible.