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

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the question. First, Australians are understandably distressed by the violence, death, displacement in the Middle East, but we on this side of the chamber believe that we gain nothing by shouting each other down. We gain nothing by turning up the temperature, as that question sought to. We gain nothing, as a pluralist nation, for—

Again, there is an outrage machine that the Greens engage in because they want to raise the temperature. You want to raise the temperature because you see political benefit in raising the temperature. We on this side want to do all that we can, in a pluralist Australia, to enable people to come together, and for people who disagree with each other to be able to engage respectfully. That is what we seek to do, and that was what the Prime Minister was seeking to do.

It wasn't a visit by the Prime Minister for Eid; it was a visit at the invitation of the community. It was a visit that was welcomed by many in the community. And, yes, there were people who had different views. But overwhelmingly, it is a good thing for the Prime Minister of the country—