Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All of us in this place have a responsibility to use our words wisely—not for clickbait, not to generate outrage through algorithms and especially not to leave members of our communities feeling vulnerable and open to attack. It is in this light that I highlight the concern within my community around Senator Hanson's recent comments suggesting there are no good Muslims.

The Senate has, rightly, censured her for this, because language like this does real damage to people in our communities, to our very sense of these communities and, in fact, to our country. In my electorate in Melbourne's north-east, people from different backgrounds live side by side. First Nations families live alongside families who have been in Australia for generations, who live alongside families who have come here more recently to build a life, to raise their children and to contribute to our country. There are many Muslims in my electorate, including a strong Somali Australian community who I'm so proud to represent here in this place.

When I drop my kids off at school in the morning, I join with Somali parents, with Indian parents, with Iranian parents and others. Our kids are learning together. They are playing together at school all day. Across our community, people from different backgrounds are volunteering at our sporting clubs and our local organisations. They are working. They are building small businesses. They are our nurses, our students and our neighbours. This is a great strength of our country.

When Senator Hanson suggests there are no good Muslims, people in my community hear that and know it is an insult against Australians they know and the Australia they know. It is why, on behalf of my community, I am calling it out. Our country works because we've built a society based on fairness, respect and inclusion. It will be to the detriment of us all if we give that up, if we decide that those places where we can come together—our sporting clubs, our schools, our local organisations—don't count as much as the places that the algorithms send us to and if we are not willing to champion these values of fairness, respect and inclusion. That is why today I am saying, on behalf of my community, that we value the places we have built where people from different cultures and faiths have come together to build communities where everyone can belong.

When Senator Hanson singles out Muslims, when she singles out Australians based on their faith or background, it chips away at this sense of belonging that holds our communities together. That should concern all of us in this place. We do live in difficult times. There is so much happening in our world that is terrible, and that is affecting many people in our communities at this time. It is on all of us to show the leadership and the responsibility that holds our communities together and that brings together those values of respect so that we can move forward together.