Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

The Racial Discrimination Act passed in 1975 and established legal protection against racial discrimination amidst a global push for civil rights and antidiscrimination laws. It passed with bipartisan support. Equality before the law is a core Liberal value. We believe in individual rights and freedoms, including protection from discrimination, recognising the need to balance antidiscrimination protections with freedoms of speech and religion. The coalition has always focused on practical measures to address disadvantage, such as targeted programs in education, employment and health for Indigenous and migrant Australians and effective, meaningful, public awareness and education on issues of race and equality. We've supported the process of reconciliation.

Legislation alone, though, cannot change attitudes or eliminate prejudice. In fact, what must also occur is doing things that do no further harm and that prevent it before it starts. Social and economic inclusion create opportunity, diminish difference and make a place in every corner, place and community based on equality of opportunity. Using legislation to assert rights is available to all citizens, but the advice should always be to prevent, to intervene early and to respond and behave in ways that do not result in the need to assert legal rights.

The Labor government talks a big talk about social cohesion, yet it has stood by idly and has seen some of the most appalling antisemitic attacks on the Jewish community in Australian history. According to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, in the 12 months following 7 October 2023, there was a 316 per cent increase in antisemitic attacks. To ensure a fair and just community, we need to be always vigilant. The first job that this government focused on in its first term was the Voice to Parliament referendum. It was perhaps one of the most divisive periods in our history not just for Indigenous Australians but for all Australians, and it was not just about the proposition but also about how this government went about it. It pitted people against each other on the basis of race, giving special rights to a group of people above all others in our foundation document, the Australian Constitution.

Prioritising symbolism over practical action does not change lives. Despite the Labor Party promulgating its own version of history, here are some facts. It is the Liberal Party that has taken practical action to address exclusion and division. In early 1967, the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders sent a delegation to meet with Liberal Prime Minister Harold Holt. They sought and received support for a referendum to remove words discriminating against Indigenous Australians from the Constitution. That was a Holt government. This included the removal of words from section 51. Later that month, the Australian parliament passed the coalition's Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) 1967, ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders would be counted as part of the Australian population and that the parliament could make laws for them. The key difference between this successful process and the Albanese government's Voice referendum is that the coalition introduced clear legislation and then actively campaigned on it.

These important reforms did not end with the Holt government. The Office of Aboriginal Affairs was established soon after Prime Minister Gorton to receive advice on issues impacting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Prime Minister John Howard introduced Indigenous protected areas in 1998. In 2019, the coalition government established the NIAA to lead and coordinate Indigenous policy across government. This approach is echoed by our support for a standalone estimates day, something the Albanese government got rid of. The previous coalition government introduced the groundbreaking Indigenous procurement policy to ensure greater opportunity in business to contradict those terrible stereotypes that sometimes persist. In the chamber this week, we saw the Greens make an issue about race when I don't believe race was even an issue. Race is not something to raise to shut down dissent. People are harmed, not helped, by that.

Thanks to all those who have contributed to those over the last 50 years—lawmakers, community advocates and everyday Australians. Thanks to people like the late Neville Bonner, who first came into the Senate as a Liberal Senator in 1971 and said, 'I am a senator for all Australians, no matter their ethnicity, no matter their background or ancestry.' It's important we reflect on those words. Today, though, we recognise that there is still much more work to be done.