Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

One thing that we've not heard from the other side is condemnation—not one word of condemnation against what we know in this Senate has been a complete focus on division and racism. There's been no word of condemnation from either of the senators on the other side who stood up to speak. Senator Abetz, no regret for the commentary that he made yesterday; no apology. I quote his statement to Fairfax:

While the motion wasn't as elegantly written as it could have been, this crazy notion that people of Anglo-Saxon descent can't be discriminated against because of their skin colour but others can is just strange.

Show some leadership. How about standing up and saying that conversation, which we all know Senator Hanson has form on, is not the kind of debate we want in this country. Show some backbone. Stand up and admit that, yes, it may have been an error on your part, but there has still been no condemnation for the very fact that the whole purpose of the motion was to divide the country. And guess what? That's what it's doing, and that's what it's going to continue to do throughout the rest of this day and in weeks to come. There has to be greater condemnation when these sorts of things happen, in particular from you in leadership, in government.

To stand up here and patronise Senator Dodson for reflecting on his history as a First Nations man in this country and the deep hurt, the trauma and the tragedy of First Nations people in this country is not the way to go.

You have missed the point completely again. You've been fooled again by One Nation, by this complete distraction dividing this nation, and none of you have condemned her for it. You take the road of condemning a senior Aboriginal elder, the father of reconciliation, who stood in this house to say to you that this is something that you can do much better. We know, as I said earlier in the house this afternoon, that it's about the content of your character. We do not want to see this country always focusing on our differences. Find out what it is that unites us as a nation. But come out and call it for what it is when those people stand up and seek to divide us by putting a wedge between all of us—to get our country all tied up in knots—over whether they're black enough, white enough, brown enough, short enough, tall enough, Christian or Muslim. Stand up and have some backbone. Show real leadership in condemning One Nation.

I see that the Minister for Indigenous Affairs has gone out in the media to apologise. I call on the Minister for Indigenous Affairs: don't just apologise out there; do it right in here, in this chamber. It takes a great deal of responsibility to be a leader in this country, a responsibility that all Australians expect us to take very seriously. For the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, and, as Senator Eric Abetz has mentioned, the CLP candidate for the Northern Territory and a Alice Springs councillor to come out so irresponsibly on this issue is a sad indictment for the people of the Northern Territory, a deeper disappointment for First Nations people in this country and certainly shows a real abrogation of understanding the importance of your role to represent in an appropriate, responsible and effective way that cares about bringing people together, not dividing this nation. I call on the Minister for Indigenous Affairs: come into the Senate and explain yourself to the Senate. Let us know in here what it is you really mean.

Question agreed to.