Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As Senator Cameron observes, it's a tactic that's been used by Senator Cash. Senator Porter picked it up yesterday. While we are on the subject of Minister Porter: Minister Porter, the Attorney-General of this nation, is the one who tweeted yesterday in support of the vote taken by his Liberal Party colleagues in the Senate to back in One Nation and their divisive, white supremacist, racist rhetoric.

Senator Cormann retweeted Minister Porter's tweet. Minister Porter was quite happy to own this yesterday. And why do you think Minister Porter might have had a view that yesterday the Liberal Party should back in a One Nation motion supporting white supremacy?

Is it by any happenstance that, just on the weekend, One Nation endorsed their candidate for Pearce, which is Minister Porter's seat? He's running scared—he's got a close race there and he's up against One Nation, so what does he do? He thinks he can just pull a fast one and throw the One Nation Party a bone—and no-one's going to notice, are they? Well, guess what Minister Porter? Guess what, Senator Cormann? This Senate noticed. We were gobsmacked when you all sat over there backing in One Nation's white supremacy rhetoric. We were gobsmacked. And the nation noticed. That is why you're in here today with this humiliating backdown—'Oh, it was an administrative error;' 'Oh, I'm blaming the staff';' 'Oh, it wasn't me.'

How can you look at this motion and not see it for what it is? It is divisive white supremacist rhetoric. If you don't know that, let me acquaint you with recent history. A report from the Anti-Defamation League last year said:

On top of everything else, the phrase 'It's okay to be white' actually has a fairly long history in the white supremacist movement. While far from the most common white supremacist slogan, it was in use enough that white power music band Aggressive Force even used the phrase as the title of one of its songs—a song that dates back at least to 2001, if not earlier. ADL has tracked white supremacist fliers featuring the phrase 'It's okay to be white' as long ago as 2005. In 2012, a member of Ku Klux Klan group United Klans of America actually even used the hashtag #IOTBW on Twitter.

Newsweek, November 2017, discussed the recent history of the phrase:

'It's Okay to Be White' started on the imageboard site 4chan, a favorite online hub for young, white males who consider themselves part of the so-called alt-right movement. Anonymous users of that site posted a 'game plan' urging people to hang 'It's Okay to Be White' signs on college campuses in an attempt to bait people into an overreaction against an ostensibly benign statement.

It is not an ostensibly benign statement, Minister Cormann. You should know that. Minister Porter should know that. Every single one of your senators and ministers should know that. It is a white supremacist statement.

David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, tweeted on 29 July 2018, 'Never forget it's okay to be white.'

He went on to say:

Our clear goal must be the advancement of the white race and separation of the white and black races. This goal must include freeing of the American media and government from subservient Jewish interests.

This is where the white supremacy movement marries up with the anti-Semitic movement. Understand this: this dissembling by Minister Cormann is nothing more than an attempt to try and distance the government from the anti-Semitic movement while they are facing a tight by-election in an electorate that has a high Jewish population. If we weren't facing a by-election this Saturday, I have no doubt that they would stand by this motion and they would stand by One Nation. They are only in here today because they have been caught out just days away from a crucial by-election in a seat with a high Jewish population. It is not principle that brings Minister Cormann to the chamber today to attempt to clean this up; it is political necessity and convenience. It is not principle at all.

The people of Wentworth, as they are looking at their choices this weekend, have the opportunity to send a clear message to Minister Cormann, to Minister Porter and to the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.

They have a great opportunity to send a message on behalf of the whole nation: 'We reject racism. We reject the divisive rhetoric of One Nation. We reject any suggestion of white supremacy entering into the mainstream of Australian politics.' It is the Liberal Party that brought white supremacy into the mainstream of our political debate yesterday. It is the Liberal Party that brought white supremacy into this Senate yesterday and endorsed it. It is not just up to us who are privileged to serve here in this Senate but it is also up to our nation to send a clear message to the Liberal Party: 'We reject it.' As the people of Wentworth go to the polls this weekend, they know that they have a choice and that they can send a clear message. They know that if they vote for Dave Sharma, they are actually voting for a party that stands with One Nation and some of the most divisive rhetoric that we have seen enter this chamber.

Minister Cormann may well seek here to reverse this vote. Senator Wong has opened the opportunity for him to do so.