Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate:

  (a) pays tribute to the outgoing Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Tim Soutphommasane;

  (b) recognises Dr Soutphommasane's advocacy for multicultural Australia and his defence of the human rights of all Australians during his tenure as the Race Discrimination Commissioner;

  (c) notes with deep concern the:

        (i) resurgence of far-right politics within the Australian political and media landscape, such as comments made by leading politicians including both the Prime Minister and the Minister for Home Affairs, and

        (ii) commentary on so-called 'African gangs', attacks on Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 , as well as the inflammatory, xenophobic language often used when referring to Australia's migration patterns; and

  (d) calls on the Australian Government to:

        (i) rule out any changes to the current anti-discrimination Act, noting that if we cannot name racial discrimination then we are unable to address it,

        (ii) cease politicising Australia's multicultural community for pure, unabashed, political gain, and

        (iii) affirm its commitment to multicultural Australia by recognising the need for a federal multicultural Act.