Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I know that the last few days caused a great deal of hurt and harm in the Australian community. The public displays of hate, the violence, the Neo-Nazis, the trumpeting of division—this is not the Australia we know and this is not the Australia we live in. My family's history goes back to both Malaysia and China on my father's side and to the very first settlers in South Australia on my mother's side. This is a uniquely Australian story but it is not a unique story in a nation with people from over 300 ancestries, where half of us are born overseas or have a parent who was born overseas. That is a story made possible because we are a great multicultural nation. That is who we are, and I am proud of it. This is the Australia we must protect and this is the Australia we must nurture.

Neo-Nazis and anti-immigration rallies are not who we are. These are not Australian values. Australians are not haters. Australians don't turn on one another. Australians know that we are stronger together and Australians know that together is how we build our country, whether you've been here for five years, 100 years or 65,000 years.

But let us be clear. There are people, including in the alternative government, the Liberal and National parties, who are trying to divide us for political gain. It is an old Liberal tactic—we know it well—of voting with Pauline Hanson and One Nation instead of backing modern Australia, of having debates which legitimise Senator Hanson and One Nation instead of backing the Australian community, of using migrants as a scapegoat for housing crises the Liberal Party presided over. The Liberals are so busy looking for someone to blame they've forgotten that the majority of Australians rejected their divisive tactics at the last election.

Australians know we are strongest as a nation when we stand together, when build each other up, not tear each other down. We are a nation that welcomes different races, different faiths and different views, and we are united by a respect for each other's humanity and for each other's right to live in peace. This is the Australia I believe in. This is the Australia we believe in. It's the Australia we live in. It's the Australia we see every day in our cities and our suburbs, from Perth to Paramatta, from Adelaide to Arnhem Land—throughout our country. This is the Australia we know.

My message is this. Let us always choose unity, not division. Let us always choose respect, not prejudice. Let us always look to hope, not fear. Let us stand together against hate, because in doing so we make our nation stronger at home and in the world.