Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Then I will ask for it and it can be denied. I seek leave to make a short statement no longer than Senator Wong's.

Leave granted.

With all due respect, I did not want to make a statement in this place. I actually thought Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Senator Pauline Hanson and Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price each expressed their opinion in relation to this matter well. Their tone respected the chamber. Their words did not seek to diminish anybody else. Their opinions were heartfelt, and they were their opinions. Each person is allowed to come into this chamber and hold an opinion. The turning of the back—I've spoken to Pauline Hanson about that; she knows my opinion. She accepts what I have said in relation to that. But let me tell you Senator Hanson has every right to hold her opinion in relation to what happens at the beginning of this chamber, and she is right. She is right. When I first came to this place, it was prayers; it was not a welcome to country. But I can tell you: do not ever demean anybody. Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price—her mother's story; Bess Price. I suggest you all read it. A woman walking through the desert was her mother, who had her baby between her legs under a tree. She picked up her baby, she cut the umbilical cord and she kept walking. I suggest you read the story of Bess Price before you ever come in here and cast aspersions or tell us, Senator Wong, to respect other words. I will stand by and respect Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who every day has lived and breathed reconciliation in this country. Her father is white; her mother is black. So please don't ever come into this place again and pontificate to us like you've just done.