Sean Bell (NSW, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) | Hansard source

From the day Labor's Gough Whitlam imposed multiculturalism as an official government doctrine in 1973, Australians have been misled about what it really means. We were told it was simply about welcoming migrants, respecting different backgrounds and allowing people to keep their traditions, but multiculturalism has always been far more than that. It has always been a government directed ideology, enforced and policed through departments, grants, regulations and public institutions. For more than 50 years, under Labor and coalition governments, Australians have been encouraged to see themselves as members of separate ethnic and religious groups, rather than as citizens of one nation with a shared identity.

Well, we—the One Nation party—reject that doctrine. We believe Australia must once again be governed on the basis of one people, one law, one flag and one Australian culture. It means we believe Australia is a Western nation and that Christianity forms the bedrock of our moral foundations, and it means we understand that our legal system, parliamentary traditions and public institutions were shaped by our Anglo-Celtic heritage. This is what makes up our national foundations and values. From these foundations, gifted to us through our ancestors, generations of Australians created something distinctly our own: mateship, courage, fairness, freedom, plain speaking and the fair go.

A nation needs a shared language, shared values, common institutions and loyalty to one country. Without that common foundation, a nation becomes a collection of separate groups living alongside one another, each with its own leaders, grievances and political demands. That is the direction in which the divisive ideology of multiculturalism has taken us. Government increasingly approaches Australians as members of ethnic and religious blocs. Organisations are funded to speak for these groups; bureaucracies are created to manage them; and politicians court them as separate voting constituencies, further entrenching division.

We must reject the moral relativism beneath the multiculturalism ideology. It has taught too many people in authority to hesitate before condemning practices that should be rejected outright. There can be no cultural defence of child marriage, forced marriage, child abuse, violence against women or intimidation in our streets. But, too often, we see the doctrine of multiculturalism used to defend the indefensible. Australian law must apply equally, and Australian values must set the standard for conduct in this country.

For too long, governments have been timid in confronting violent Islamist ideology, antisemitism and preachers of violence. Officials fear causing offence, so they soften their language, delay action and hope the danger will remain contained. Well, that hesitation carries a cost. On 14 December 2025, Islamist terrorists attacked a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach. They attacked Australians—men, women, children—and murdered 15 innocents. These Islamic extremists bear direct responsibility for that atrocity. But the country must also examine the political culture and the political doctrines in which extremist ideas are allowed to spread, with leaders who are more concerned with cultural sensitivity than with defending Australian citizens. A government that refuses to defend a common national culture will struggle, always, to confront those who openly despise it. The divisive ideology of multiculturalism has helped create a climate in which authorities are fearful and reluctant to draw firm moral boundaries, even as hatred and extremism take root.

We see the same failures in communities that have become socially and economically isolated. We must not have enclaves where English is rarely spoken, employment is limited and welfare dependency becomes entrenched, but—by government translating more services, creating more specialised programs and adapting the system to encourage permanent separation—this is what we get. This approach limits opportunity, weakens social trust and allows imported conflicts and prejudices to survive across generations.

Australia once followed a better path. Millions of migrants from southern and eastern Europe came here before the doctrine of multiculturalism became official government policy. They kept their food, churches, festivals and family traditions. They also learned English, worked hard, joined local communities and became part of Australia's shared national life. They understood that coming to this country brought both opportunity and responsibility.

One Nation will restore that expectation. We will abolish the federal multicultural affairs portfolio and review the grants, regulations, agencies and directives that promote this division. We will replace them with a focus on strengthening Australian citizenship and English proficiency, with a renewed focus on responsibility and loyalty to our great nation, because Australia has a culture, a history and an identity of its own: one national language, one law for everyone, one flag, one nation, one Australian culture.