Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to put a few comments on the record in relation to this discussion. Yesterday, when the motion was being voted on, it was clear what the motion was. It was clear that it had been put up as a provocative stunt by Senator Hanson and One Nation. What was shocking was that the coalition decided to vote in support of it. And there was jeering across the chamber yesterday from some members of the coalition who said, 'I don't know what it is, and I don't care.'

Most of us in this place knew what it was about, and most of us cared. Thankfully, the majority of this chamber was able to defeat the motion. But the government has one of two problems or possibly both. Either they have members on their bench who are just so dull that they can't read the motion that they're voting on, or they don't care. Or in fact it was all a much more calculated decision and they just got caught out. I suspect that it was the latter because we know this motion has been sitting on the books for three weeks. There had been discussions. Apparently the Attorney-General's office knew about it. The leader of the government in this place knew about it. There was obviously a decision to vote yes for this motion, hoping that only the racists would notice and nobody else would. You got caught out, and why is that? It's because, fundamentally, Australia is a decent country.

The majority of people in this country are shocked and horrified that this type of attitude is being represented in this place. And the backlash from yesterday's support of the government of Pauline Hanson and One Nation was swift and it was fast, which is why we see the grovelling response today. But to try and blame this on some administrative mistake is laughable. No-one believes it. We know there are members on your own benches who would prefer to sit with Pauline Hanson than to sit alongside their own colleagues. You're a party riddled with division. And, as you fight amongst yourselves, you want to expose divisions that are in the broader community for your own political expediency. It's revolting, it's unbecoming of a government and you should be ashamed of yourselves. You're only coming into this place today because you're worried it might cost you the seat of Wentworth. I hope it does. You don't deserve to win that seat. You don't deserve to be in government. You've shown over and over again you don't deserve to represent and govern this country, with attitudes like this stinking on your benches.

There are decent people in the Liberal Party and there are decent people in the National Party, and those people must be horrified by some of the attitudes that surround them in that party room. We know there are decent people in the Liberal Party because we've seen three of them stand up today. We've seen three members of the Liberal Party stand up and say, 'Enough is enough,' in relation to how children are being treated on Nauru, and I tip my hat to them. What a pity their voice is so squashed, muffled and suffocated inside the rest of the coalition.

You're not sorry for voting for the motion yesterday; you're sorry you got caught out. You don't deserve to win the by-election. You don't deserve to be in government. The attitude presented by voting for this motion yesterday is not an attitude of a government that is prepared to govern for all; it's a government that is prepared to do whatever it takes to grovel to the darkest corners of society, to exploit division and hatred and fear. Senator Anning stood up here today clearly articulating that he knew exactly what this motion yesterday was about. Senator Pauline Hanson and One Nation knew exactly what this motion was about, and so did the government. It is appalling that it took decent Australians to have to call you out so swiftly for you to realise that you perhaps had better come in and clean it up. I'm not prepared to just allow you to recommit this vote. You don't deserve it. If you want to put in a motion that says you condemn that attitude then I'll think about supporting it. But you stuffed up and got caught.

There are members within the Liberal Party and the National Party who think the same as Pauline Hanson, and the sooner you get them out of your party and out of government, the better. It is time to stand up for decency and the history of this country, which has built itself on welcoming people. We don't need to go back to a white Australia. We don't need to pretend that there was some romanticised view of the world back then. It's 2018, and we are a proud multicultural nation. One in every three Australians in this country was born overseas. I'm glad they've chosen to make Australia their home. I'm glad to be and proud of living in a multicultural nation, in a community that accepts and celebrates diversity. We're much better and stronger for it. But we are being let down every day by the cowardice and racism that is reeking from inside this government.

Question agreed to.