Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the ABCs show Always Was Tonight, a satirical show that uses humour and creativity to challenge and provoke thought on how we treat our First Nations people. It exposes racism through humour, challenging our thoughts on how Indigenous Australians live their everyday lives and what 26 January means to them and to all of us.

Of course, it seems as though the Liberal Party's fun police have taken issue with this show. The host, Tony Armstrong, an absolute genius in his field, a living legend, is not the type of person that I think the Liberal Party should be trying to attack. He's a hell of a lot funnier than the joke of the Liberal Party or indeed the coalition. Rather than attacking the ABC, perhaps the Liberal Party and its shadow ministers should be looking at their own backyard.

I want to point out one a sad fact. It seems as though the Liberal Party's main issue with this show is the powerful song 'We Shouldn't Call This Place Home', a rendition of Peter Allen's 'I Still Call Australia Home'. It highlights the very real and confronting issue of young Indigenous kids being locked up in jail—kids being locked up from the age of 10 in most states across this country. Rather than being offended at children being locked up, the Liberal Party are appalled and offended by the song itself. Well, I say to the Liberal Party: if seeing kids in spit hoods on television offends you, then stop doing it.