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

Thank you, Mr President. What happened in this chamber yesterday was an absolute disgrace. Let's be clear about what happened. The Liberal Party endorsed the words used by white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Those words are the catchcry of people who wear white hoods on their heads. Those words are the catchcry of people who believe that African-Americans should swing from trees. They are the people who use those words, and yesterday you got together and endorsed them and gave them succour. You said to people across the country that you think it's okay to demean people on the basis of their skin colour; that you believe that it's okay that people who aren't white should be treated as second-class citizens. That's what you did yesterday. And you know what you're doing today: you don't have the guts to stand behind those words, which were deliberate and calculated.

Let's be honest. Let's actually name what is going on here. This is a party that fears losing to its competitors in One Nation the votes of people who vote on the basis of a racist ideology, and it is trying to get them back. When debate on that motion was being conducted yesterday we saw those people sitting over there who felt uncomfortable, but the racists and bigots on your team won. They won, as they have won comprehensively on every debate that has been about decency in this chamber. You should be ashamed yourselves for what you did. Rather than having the guts and owning up to it and being clear about why you've done it, today, when you've got a backlash and because you're about to lose a seat in Wentworth—where there are decent people who want to see a Liberal Party stand up for people no matter where they come from—you're caving in. You didn't have the guts to do it yesterday, and you're caving in today.

And where's the Prime Minister on this? He says it's 'regrettable'. Well, it's more than regrettable; it's shameful. It's unacceptable. There was a time when the Liberal Party would never have even considered contemplating a motion like that.

With the passage of every day, you are looking more and more like One Nation and less like a party of government.

This was about politics. This wasn't about decency. This wasn't a mistake. For goodness sake, there were two lines in this motion. All you had to do was read the two lines and decide which side of the chamber you were going to sit on. That's not an administrative error; that's an error. That is on the basis of a party that has lost its moral compass. That was an error of morality and decency, not an administrative error. For goodness sake, we understand that the Leader of the Government in the Senate has problems counting. He proved that a few weeks ago when he tried to roll the Prime Minister. But that's not what this was about. This was about making a decision about the future of the Liberal Party. Do you want to be a party that represents people right across this country who have chosen to make it their home or do you want to be a party that represents the worst of Australia—a party that appeals to those people who vote for One Nation on the basis of race?

Being white in Australia is like winning the lotto. Being white in Australia affords you all sorts of privilege. Let me tell you what it's not okay to be in Australia. It's not okay to be an Aboriginal person because you're more likely to get locked up and to be exposed to your families being torn apart and you're more likely to end up dying younger and sicker. It's not okay anymore to be an African in this country because you've got people like Peter Dutton trying to sow the seeds of fear and division. It's not okay to be a Muslim in Australia because, if you're a Muslim in Australia, you get the dog whistling from members of the Liberal Party telling you that it's not okay to express a different faith. We hear a lot about religious freedom in this country, but not if you're a Muslim. If you're a card-carrying conservative Catholic, you might be able to express your views, but not if you're a Muslim.

This was a shameful episode in the history of the Liberal Party. We may be poles apart politically, but there was a time when the Liberal Party would never have contemplated supporting this motion. And now it doesn't have the guts to stand up and say why it did it. It's trying to rewrite history. We know why you did it. You did it because you are chasing those people who have deserted you, and, rather than standing up to them, you caved in to them.

Australia is a proud multicultural country. People from right across the world have chosen to make Australia home, and we are better because of it. I fear for what this election holds for those people because this is a taste of things to come. We are going to see an election fought on racism, on fear, on division. And let me tell you that we on this side of the chamber are going to stand up to you every second of every day. There are people going about their daily lives right now who, as a result of the actions in this chamber, are going to suffer the racism and bigotry that you are helping to unleash. The actions in this chamber send a message to the community about what standards are acceptable. And when a governing party stands up and says to the country, 'We endorse the words of neo-Nazis, of white supremacists, of racists and bigots,' it gives licence to those people in this country—small in number but loud in voice—who will seek to attack good people in our country. We stand up against it. We condemn you for your actions. At least have the courage to say why you did it.