Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

No, no, no. Have a look back at what you did. You opposed a motion in the Senate that affirmed that Australia is a nation that welcomes different races and religions. The Liberal Party of Australia, opposed a motion that rejected the racism, white supremacy and condemnation of immigrants on display at rallies held over the weekend. That is the so-called Liberal Party of Australia.

I don't resile for one moment from the comments that I made yesterday and, interestingly, comments that were made by some members of the opposition before the rallies where they also condemned those rallies. But, as I say, the minute the rallies happened, they ran away from their position at a rate of knots. We saw in the lead-up to those rallies the opposition leader, Ms Ley, put up a video saying, 'There is no place for violence, racism or intimidation,' trying to take a stand against some of the views that were expressed at those rallies on the weekend. But what we saw at those rallies then was Neo-Nazis addressing the Melbourne rally, that rally ending with attacking the site of Aboriginal resistance in Melbourne and a sacred resting place, an Adelaide protester carrying a placard in support of an alleged cop killer and speeches blaming migrants for housing shortages. That's what we saw at those rallies over the weekend. Then, when offered an opportunity to support a motion of the Senate that affirmed that Australia is a nation that welcomes different races and religions, the opposition voted against it. When offered an opportunity to support a motion rejecting racism and the white supremacy that we saw at the rallies, the opposition voted against that. Shame on you. (Time expired)