Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Families and Social Services (Senator Ruston) and the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to questions without notice asked by Senators Green, Keneally, O’Neill today relating to debt compliance and the Department of Social Services.

Unfortunately, we are already seeing a continuation under the government in this term of the steady trend towards the far Right that we saw from this government in the last term. We may be in a new term of parliament, the third term for this Abbott/Morrison/Turnbull government, but it's the same old Liberals and Nationals, the same old dog whistling, and the same old pandering to the far Right of politics. Who can forget, in the last term, the debacle where we saw the Liberals and Nationals vote for an extreme right-wing motion put forward, I think it was by Senator Hanson, that 'It's okay to be white.' We were told at the time that that vote was actually due to some sort of administrative error. The actions of the same nature that have been revealed during question time this week cannot be blamed on an administrative error, because we are now seeing the open endorsement of extreme right-wing hate speech by figures within this government. Before the last election, we saw many moderate members of the Liberal Party flee the parliament, and it's increasingly clear that we're now left with what is an increasingly conservative rump. They are the true leaders of the Liberal Party in this place.

The government says that hate speech is the price of free speech. I utterly reject that, and Labor utterly rejects that. Hate speech is not free speech. Hate speech is different. Hate speech incites hatred and violence, and it is grounded in someone's personal characteristics: it's about attacking someone because of their race, their religion, their sexuality, their gender. That is not the normal cut and thrust of debate. That is something quite different, and something that of all of us should stand against. What has given rise to this is the revelation that at least two members of this government intend—and have been advertised as—participating in and appearing on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference. That's a conference that's going to be attended by high-profile right-wing extremists, including US Congressman Matt Gaetz, best known for inviting Holocaust denier Charles C Johnson to the State of the Union—a man who asked for help in taking out a Black Lives Matter activist and denying that over six million Jewish people were murdered in the Holocaust. In addition, that conference will be addressed by failed UKIP leadership candidate Raheem Kassam whose actions include labelling the Koran as 'fundamentally evil' and insulting, in the most offensive way possible, British politician Nicola Sturgeon. Also in attendance will be some known to us in this chamber and in this parliament, including former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and, of course, Queensland LNP Senator Amanda Stoker and Liberal MP Craig Kelly.

Those you associate with does say something about you. Senator Stoker has made an active choice to share a stage with right-wing extremists, such as the two that I've just mentioned. She's not required to attend this conference by virtue of her membership of a political party or anything of the sort; she has made an active choice to share a stage with these right-wing extremists. The government's lack of concern about this conference and, in fact, its participation in this conference is appalling. How can government members promote the kind of hate speech that is being spouted by those attending?

I was encouraged yesterday when Senator Cormann described the various statements made by speakers at this conference as abhorrent, disgraceful and completely outrageous, but unfortunately overnight we've seen Senator Stoker double down, saying that the CPAC program is 'Packed with incredible speakers who've got some great ideas to share.' She has also suggested that the idea of banning the attendance of Mr Kassam would be 'stupid, impractical and harmful for a civil society'.

Today, we've seen Senator Cormann backtrack from his earlier remarks. He's changed his position on this conference and he's released a statement that informs us:

The attendance of current and former members and senators at CPAC is a matter for those individuals. Their attendance at this conference does not imply agreement or endorsement with the views of any of the other speakers attending in any way.

Unfortunately, Senator Cormann has gone from thinking this was abhorrent to now approving of participation. Clearly, overnight we've seen the hard right of the Liberal Party lay down its instructions and get him to change position. We must take a stand on right-wing extremism and not support it. (Time expired)