Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a brief statement in relation to the government's position on motion No. 1092.

Leave granted.

When the Senate voted on motion No. 1092 in the name of Senator Hanson yesterday, the government should have voted to oppose that motion. Indeed, when this motion was first lodged in September and we considered our position on it then, we made a clear decision to oppose it to make a statement in our own words that, as a government, we deplore racism of any kind. We did not make a decision to actually support the motion as circulated. While the motion was not dealt with on 20 September 2018, that is the position that should have been maintained when it was ultimately moved yesterday. As a result of an administrative process failure, that did not happen. As leader of our team in the Senate, I take responsibility for that and apologise to the Senate.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the government's stated position on racism in Australia.

I rise to respond to that somewhat pathetic attempt at a clean-up. That's what it was: a pathetic attempt at a clean-up, where this minister has to come in and try and take on the chin the fact that they all voted for a motion that included a phrase that everybody knows is used by white supremacists—all of you did so. Now you want to come in and say, 'Oops, we made a mistake.' Well, we don't believe you; no-one believes you. Everybody knows that this is a just a craven and pathetic attempt to try and clean up your mess.

The reality is yesterday's decision by government senators to vote in favour of a phrase created and disseminated by white supremacist groups around the world is a shameful episode in this chamber. It is a phrase created by white, right-wing extremist groups in the United States with the sole purpose of causing a backlash to help convert people to the cause of the neo-Nazis and extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. There is nothing innocent, nothing unknown and nothing hidden about this phrase. Frankly, the claim that somehow the government didn't understand this or didn't know about it is not believable. Frankly, if Mr Christian Porter wasn't aware of the true meaning behind this phrase, then how is he fit to be the Attorney-General?

As for the government senators who walked in here like sheep yesterday to stand up behind One Nation and Senator Hanson, frankly, do you really deserve to be here? Who is running the government? Are you so lacking in basic decency, so lacking in understanding and so lacking in commonsense you just walk in and vote for a motion like that without actually looking at it on the basis that somebody in some office somewhere supposedly made a mistake? Do you really have no understanding of what One Nation was trying to achieve here?

It's not as if this was a surprise. Senator Hanson gave notice of this motion almost a month ago on 19 September. It was due to be voted on the next day. There was extensive publicity at that time about the motion, its true meaning and what supporting it would say about the parliament and the people in it. It sat there for nearly a month on the Notice Paper, and yet we are now supposed to believe that no-one in the government paid attention, some junior staffer ticked it off and then government senators just filed in and sat behind Senator Hanson, oblivious to the fact that they were endorsing a racist motion designed to promote Nazis, the Klan and other white supremacist groups? It is simply not believable.

Then, when this is finally pointed out to them, do they apologise? Do they seek to recommit the vote? No. They doubled down. One after the other they lined up on Twitter to defend their actions. The Attorney tweeted:

The Government Senators' actions in the Senate … confirm that the Government deplores racism of any kind.

Senator Cormann is so outraged by this that he retweets that and then adds his own comments in support for good measure.

But do you know what actually made them change position? Not principle; not the fact that they were standing behind a white supremacist slogan; and not the fact that they were yet again lining up behind Senator Hanson in some hopeless and vain attempt to protect their right-wing base. No. It was only when the Liberal candidate for Wentworth came out against the motion that it started to dawn on the government that they might have made a mistake—not that it was wrong in principle to support a motion that can be characterised as akin to something a neo-Nazi would support; not that it was wrong to be led by the nose by Senator Hanson. What they really responded to was that it might cost them votes in Wentworth.

And hasn't that been a pattern today! The Prime Minister flagged that he's prepared to dump Julie Bishop and Alexander Downer's longstanding bipartisan foreign policy because he thinks it might save the seat of Wentworth. And, now, the government are belatedly trying to walk away from their support for this appalling motion, again, because they're worried about the seat of Wentworth—not because it was wrong. So this doesn't have anything to do with correcting the record, and it certainly has nothing to do with doing the right thing. It's entirely about trying to clean up the mess ahead of a by-election they're worried about losing.

In closing, my challenge to the government is this: if you're serious about fixing this up, why don't you recommit the motion? Why don't you recommit the motion and not allow, in a multicultural nation, this stain to remain on the record of this Senate?

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll give the Leader of the Government in the Senate precedence and then come to you, Senator Di Natale.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr President. I thank Senator Wong for her contribution and, on behalf of the government, I seek leave to recommit the vote on motion No. 1092, which was voted on yesterday.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cormann, I've just been advised—

Senator Wong interjecting—

I'm going to provide a ruling with advice from the Clerk. The advice I've received is that we need to continue this debate and then, following that, Senator Cormann, I will seek leave of the chamber to put the recommittal of the vote. I will go to Senator Di Natale.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. What happened in this chamber yesterday was an absolute disgrace. Let's be clear about what happened. The Liberal Party endorsed the words used by white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Those words are the catchcry of people who wear white hoods on their heads. Those words are the catchcry of people who believe that African-Americans should swing from trees. They are the people who use those words, and yesterday you got together and endorsed them and gave them succour. You said to people across the country that you think it's okay to demean people on the basis of their skin colour; that you believe that it's okay that people who aren't white should be treated as second-class citizens. That's what you did yesterday. And you know what you're doing today: you don't have the guts to stand behind those words, which were deliberate and calculated.

Let's be honest. Let's actually name what is going on here. This is a party that fears losing to its competitors in One Nation the votes of people who vote on the basis of a racist ideology, and it is trying to get them back. When debate on that motion was being conducted yesterday we saw those people sitting over there who felt uncomfortable, but the racists and bigots on your team won. They won, as they have won comprehensively on every debate that has been about decency in this chamber. You should be ashamed yourselves for what you did. Rather than having the guts and owning up to it and being clear about why you've done it, today, when you've got a backlash and because you're about to lose a seat in Wentworth—where there are decent people who want to see a Liberal Party stand up for people no matter where they come from—you're caving in. You didn't have the guts to do it yesterday, and you're caving in today.

And where's the Prime Minister on this? He says it's 'regrettable'. Well, it's more than regrettable; it's shameful. It's unacceptable. There was a time when the Liberal Party would never have even considered contemplating a motion like that.

With the passage of every day, you are looking more and more like One Nation and less like a party of government.

This was about politics. This wasn't about decency. This wasn't a mistake. For goodness sake, there were two lines in this motion. All you had to do was read the two lines and decide which side of the chamber you were going to sit on. That's not an administrative error; that's an error. That is on the basis of a party that has lost its moral compass. That was an error of morality and decency, not an administrative error. For goodness sake, we understand that the Leader of the Government in the Senate has problems counting. He proved that a few weeks ago when he tried to roll the Prime Minister. But that's not what this was about. This was about making a decision about the future of the Liberal Party. Do you want to be a party that represents people right across this country who have chosen to make it their home or do you want to be a party that represents the worst of Australia—a party that appeals to those people who vote for One Nation on the basis of race?

Being white in Australia is like winning the lotto. Being white in Australia affords you all sorts of privilege. Let me tell you what it's not okay to be in Australia. It's not okay to be an Aboriginal person because you're more likely to get locked up and to be exposed to your families being torn apart and you're more likely to end up dying younger and sicker. It's not okay anymore to be an African in this country because you've got people like Peter Dutton trying to sow the seeds of fear and division. It's not okay to be a Muslim in Australia because, if you're a Muslim in Australia, you get the dog whistling from members of the Liberal Party telling you that it's not okay to express a different faith. We hear a lot about religious freedom in this country, but not if you're a Muslim. If you're a card-carrying conservative Catholic, you might be able to express your views, but not if you're a Muslim.

This was a shameful episode in the history of the Liberal Party. We may be poles apart politically, but there was a time when the Liberal Party would never have contemplated supporting this motion. And now it doesn't have the guts to stand up and say why it did it. It's trying to rewrite history. We know why you did it. You did it because you are chasing those people who have deserted you, and, rather than standing up to them, you caved in to them.

Australia is a proud multicultural country. People from right across the world have chosen to make Australia home, and we are better because of it. I fear for what this election holds for those people because this is a taste of things to come. We are going to see an election fought on racism, on fear, on division. And let me tell you that we on this side of the chamber are going to stand up to you every second of every day. There are people going about their daily lives right now who, as a result of the actions in this chamber, are going to suffer the racism and bigotry that you are helping to unleash. The actions in this chamber send a message to the community about what standards are acceptable. And when a governing party stands up and says to the country, 'We endorse the words of neo-Nazis, of white supremacists, of racists and bigots,' it gives licence to those people in this country—small in number but loud in voice—who will seek to attack good people in our country. We stand up against it. We condemn you for your actions. At least have the courage to say why you did it.

Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For Senator Cormann to get up and say this was an 'administrative process failure' is a disgrace. We all sat here yesterday. We know what happened. I sat next to Senators Waters and Faruqi and looked across the chamber after Senator Hanson moved her motion. I stood and argued against it and said it was so bad and so racist and bigoted that it could have been written on a piece of toilet paper.

We sat there as the bells started to ring for four minutes, and I saw a couple of government members walk in and sit down on this side of the chamber. I turned to Senator Waters and said, 'They've made a mistake.' I was genuinely shocked that a government member would come and vote in support of this disgusting, despicable motion. And then we read this morning that it was 'regrettable' for the Prime Minister. Senator Di Natale is right: it's not regrettable; it's bloody disgraceful.

Senator Cormann, who I've respected in the past, and the Attorney-General now say it was an administrative process failure. Where was the process failure when you put your bloody tweets out yesterday saying how wonderful it was? You voted with Senator Hanson because you wanted to prove how lovely and nonracist you are. You supported that, Senator Cormann. You backed it up. And now we're being told some poor junior in the Attorney-General's office has been thrown under the bus because you made the deliberate decision to back Pauline Hanson on this disgusting issue.

You can't say you didn't know it was coming. We sat here yesterday afternoon as you started to come in and sit down. You heard Labor and Greens senators yelling at you: 'What are you doing here? Are you crazy? Are any of you actually thinking about this?' I actually got a short tweet from Peter FitzSimons asking, 'Did any of them—did one government member of the Senate—vote against it?' I said, 'Not one.' At least some of you—very few of you—had the decency to sit there looking uncomfortable because you knew that what you were doing was wrong. Overnight, some of you have said, 'We've got to get out of this.' I guess those senators were thinking that Redfern is not inside the Wentworth constituency. This is disgusting. This was wrong. The fact that you are now trying to weasel your way out of it is just not right. It is dishonest. The Greens are right, and Labor is right: you knew it was a slogan by the KKK. You know it's from neo-Nazis and extremists. You know that. This was like the final solution speech—'Oh, we didn't know!' You have a hundred more staff than I have and I knew. My few staff knew, so you can't hide behind that.

You've known for a month about this. I stood here that day that Senator Hanson was about to launch us on the 'I'm white and I'm okay' debate. I wrote down some words. I didn't get to use them because the government and I presume the President, with respect, decided to push it down the list and we ran out of time and didn't get there. I saw Senator Hanson sprint up to the President at the end of that time for motions and complain to the President that she hadn't been heard. She knew she'd lose the vote, so she went on Sky the night before and boasted about what she was going to do. She went on Twitter the day before and said, 'Look at me—we're going to do the "I'm white and I'm okay" number.' She knew and she was disappointed that she couldn't get off the ground what I call the verbal burka stunt. She did yesterday. The verbal burqa stunt got off the ground yesterday, and you—the government—voted with her. You backed her, and you should be bloody ashamed of yourselves.

Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Clearly the position taken by the government yesterday was most disturbing. That has been dealt with by the speakers thus far. I know there are some very good people on the other side of the chamber, and I'm a bit disappointed that someone didn't actually intervene yesterday when that motion was being put. I want to add to something that Senator Hinch touched on slightly. It's an important thing. I want to read what the Attorney-General has put out in relation to this. I'm just reading one paragraph of what he said. He said:

It appears that, of the very large number of motions on which my office's views are routinely sought, this one was not escalated to me because it was interpreted in my office as a motion opposing racism. The associations of the language were not picked up. Had it been raised directly with me those issues would have been identified.

I'm a bit disturbed that a staffer in this place would be held responsible for something that took place in the chamber, for a position that was taken by the government in the chamber. We all have very hardworking and very intelligent staffers. It's not appropriate for people to blame staffers for positions taken here in the chamber. I ask the Leader of the Government in the Senate to seek clarification that no staffer is being held responsible for it and to perhaps get someone to put up their hand and say, 'Look, that was my mistake.' I think a member or a senator would be most appropriate.

Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's talk about Wentworth. Specifically, let's talk about the most recent member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull. He used to be fond of saying that we, in Australia, are the most successful multicultural nation on earth. How the times have changed. How they have changed in the Liberal Party in just a few short weeks. How they have changed in Australia thanks to the lack of leadership from the government when it comes to the issue of race.

John Howard, a former leader of the Liberal Party and a former Prime Minister of this country, knew that One Nation and its divisive and racist rhetoric was the wrong prescription for this country. He shunned them. He rejected the racist rhetoric. How times have changed. Yesterday, the Liberal Party did a complete 180. They walked into this chamber and, instead of following the lead of John Howard and of Malcolm Turnbull, they followed the lead of Pauline Hanson. They followed the lead of One Nation. They deliberately chose, knowing exactly what they were doing. Does anyone in this chamber or this country really believe that Senator Cormann and the ministers and the senators in the Liberal Party are so poorly prepared and so ill equipped to be senators and officeholders in this country that they don't know what they're voting on? They walked into this chamber and knowingly voted with white supremacist racist rhetoric, to stand with Pauline Hanson and One Nation.

We have a by-election in Wentworth this Saturday. We have a by-election in Wentworth where the Liberal Party has endorsed a Jewish candidate. He must be appalled.

Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He's not Jewish. He's Indian.

Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He was the ambassador to Israel. He has strong links to the Jewish community, and he must be appalled. He must be appalled by what is happening to the Liberal Party. It's no surprise, given the by-election reality that the Liberal Party is facing in Bennelong, that they came in here with this fiction that somehow they didn't know and that somehow they were unaware that we were talking about white supremacy rhetoric, white supremacy positioning and white supremacy ideology when we were looking at that motion moved by Senator Hanson yesterday. What is their excuse? The excuse from Minister Cormann was that it was an administrative error. An administrative error? Come on. This is the man who's the minister for finance. He's in charge of the nation's finances and he can't even manage a simple motion that comes before the Senate? It was a motion, as Senator Hinch said, that was only two lines. It wasn't hard to read.

What was Minister Porter's argument? Minister Porter's argument today was to blame the help. What a classic Liberal approach: blame the help. They say, 'It's the staff who got me into this trouble.'

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Michaelia Cash excuse. It's the Michaelia.

Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Senator Cameron observes, it's a tactic that's been used by Senator Cash. Senator Porter picked it up yesterday. While we are on the subject of Minister Porter: Minister Porter, the Attorney-General of this nation, is the one who tweeted yesterday in support of the vote taken by his Liberal Party colleagues in the Senate to back in One Nation and their divisive, white supremacist, racist rhetoric.

Senator Cormann retweeted Minister Porter's tweet. Minister Porter was quite happy to own this yesterday. And why do you think Minister Porter might have had a view that yesterday the Liberal Party should back in a One Nation motion supporting white supremacy?

Is it by any happenstance that, just on the weekend, One Nation endorsed their candidate for Pearce, which is Minister Porter's seat? He's running scared—he's got a close race there and he's up against One Nation, so what does he do? He thinks he can just pull a fast one and throw the One Nation Party a bone—and no-one's going to notice, are they? Well, guess what Minister Porter? Guess what, Senator Cormann? This Senate noticed. We were gobsmacked when you all sat over there backing in One Nation's white supremacy rhetoric. We were gobsmacked. And the nation noticed. That is why you're in here today with this humiliating backdown—'Oh, it was an administrative error;' 'Oh, I'm blaming the staff';' 'Oh, it wasn't me.'

How can you look at this motion and not see it for what it is? It is divisive white supremacist rhetoric. If you don't know that, let me acquaint you with recent history. A report from the Anti-Defamation League last year said:

On top of everything else, the phrase 'It's okay to be white' actually has a fairly long history in the white supremacist movement. While far from the most common white supremacist slogan, it was in use enough that white power music band Aggressive Force even used the phrase as the title of one of its songs—a song that dates back at least to 2001, if not earlier. ADL has tracked white supremacist fliers featuring the phrase 'It's okay to be white' as long ago as 2005. In 2012, a member of Ku Klux Klan group United Klans of America actually even used the hashtag #IOTBW on Twitter.

Newsweek, November 2017, discussed the recent history of the phrase:

'It's Okay to Be White' started on the imageboard site 4chan, a favorite online hub for young, white males who consider themselves part of the so-called alt-right movement. Anonymous users of that site posted a 'game plan' urging people to hang 'It's Okay to Be White' signs on college campuses in an attempt to bait people into an overreaction against an ostensibly benign statement.

It is not an ostensibly benign statement, Minister Cormann. You should know that. Minister Porter should know that. Every single one of your senators and ministers should know that. It is a white supremacist statement.

David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, tweeted on 29 July 2018, 'Never forget it's okay to be white.'

He went on to say:

Our clear goal must be the advancement of the white race and separation of the white and black races. This goal must include freeing of the American media and government from subservient Jewish interests.

This is where the white supremacy movement marries up with the anti-Semitic movement. Understand this: this dissembling by Minister Cormann is nothing more than an attempt to try and distance the government from the anti-Semitic movement while they are facing a tight by-election in an electorate that has a high Jewish population. If we weren't facing a by-election this Saturday, I have no doubt that they would stand by this motion and they would stand by One Nation. They are only in here today because they have been caught out just days away from a crucial by-election in a seat with a high Jewish population. It is not principle that brings Minister Cormann to the chamber today to attempt to clean this up; it is political necessity and convenience. It is not principle at all.

The people of Wentworth, as they are looking at their choices this weekend, have the opportunity to send a clear message to Minister Cormann, to Minister Porter and to the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.

They have a great opportunity to send a message on behalf of the whole nation: 'We reject racism. We reject the divisive rhetoric of One Nation. We reject any suggestion of white supremacy entering into the mainstream of Australian politics.' It is the Liberal Party that brought white supremacy into the mainstream of our political debate yesterday. It is the Liberal Party that brought white supremacy into this Senate yesterday and endorsed it. It is not just up to us who are privileged to serve here in this Senate but it is also up to our nation to send a clear message to the Liberal Party: 'We reject it.' As the people of Wentworth go to the polls this weekend, they know that they have a choice and that they can send a clear message. They know that if they vote for Dave Sharma, they are actually voting for a party that stands with One Nation and some of the most divisive rhetoric that we have seen enter this chamber.

Minister Cormann may well seek here to reverse this vote. Senator Wong has opened the opportunity for him to do so.

Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She recommended it.

Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Indeed, Senator Wong, in fact, recommended it. If Minister Cormann takes up that recommendation, it is just another step in his humiliating backdown. It is not a backdown of principle. It is a backdown of convenience.

Minister Cormann got up today and said: 'I'm not racist. I'm just sloppy.' Frankly, we don't believe you're sloppy. We believe the Liberal Party yesterday showed us their racist colours. They deserve to be condemned, and I am very happy to stand with those senators—Hinch, Wong, Di Natale and Patrick—who have spoken today to condemn yesterday's vote.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to make a very brief contribution on administrative errors! I wonder if it was an administrative error when Senator Keneally was Premier of New South Wales and she appointed to the ministry Ian Macdonald, who last year got jailed for 10 years!

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong, on a point of order?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would have thought you'd take the opportunity to—

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're going to get to the neo-Nazi support shortly, are you? I ask that because this is not relevant to the motion before the chair.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The motion is that the Senate take note of the minister's statement. That's traditionally quite a wide brief. I'll listen carefully to what the senator has to say, but I'm not willing to rule it out of order just yet.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm talking about administrative errors. I want to refer to Senator Keneally, who just gave us a big lecture, and make a point on the mistakes she made when she was Premier of New South Wales. We know the history of all of that!

Senator Jacinta Collins interjecting—

I like being provoked, Jacinta! I want to make this point.

Senator Dodson interjecting—

Senator Dodson, I'll take that objection because I want to make this point: when it comes to the fact that it's a white supremacy statement that it's okay to be white, I was ignorant. I had no idea what the statement meant. It was something that was never discussed in the shearing sheds, Senator Dodson, in the trucks or on the farms. I had no idea of that. So I admit my ignorance on that very issue. Life is a learning experience. I've learnt now.

Senator Cameron interjecting—

Senator Cameron, if I were only like you, I'd know everything, wouldn't I! I want to make this point: those opposite, who are standing up now holier than thou and giving lectures, have a record of mistakes in administration as well!

Senator Jacinta Collins interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my left, Senator Collins.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What the coalition government did yesterday was shameless and it was shameful. You knew exactly what was in the motion; you had it for three whole weeks! So don't try to give us this rubbish that it was an administrative error. Senator Pauline Hanson's motion was exactly about white supremacy, and you knew that. You just don't give a damn!

Now that you've had a little bit of a backlash, you're trying to backtrack. How low can the Liberal-National government get in this parliament?

I do want to put your minds at ease about one thing though. I can assure you, I can assure the government and I can assure everyone else that it is, and it absolutely should be, okay to be who you are—black, brown, white, or anyone else. But also let me tell you what it's not okay to be. It is not okay to be a racist. It is not okay to come in here and peddle white supremacy. It is not okay for the Minister for Indigenous Affairs to vote for a white supremacist motion. And it is not okay for this parliament—in any way, shape or form—to affirm a phrase that is heavily associated with and heavily rooted in neo-Nazi groups, the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi websites like the Daily Stormer. You all know that. And if you don't, then you should know that.

Yesterday we saw the Liberals and the Nationals file in here, one after the other, to vote for Senator Pauline Hanson's motion that was, as we all know, a slogan and a strategy that came straight out of the white supremacist and neo-Nazi playbook in the United States. Some, I must admit, did walk in here a little bit sheepishly, obviously browbeaten by the party rule. Others, however—the far Right majority it seems—walked in here quite triumphantly. So don't try to pull the wool over our eyes, saying you didn't know what this motion was all about. You knew exactly what this motion was about, yet you all sat there and you voted for racism. You voted against a multicultural Australia.

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

In fact some of them were proud of it.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolutely; they walked in here triumphantly. By voting for this motion, the government sent a message that white supremacy is okay. That's what you did yesterday. That's probably what you believe in anyway. It is a complete disgrace and it has absolutely no place in Australia.

Tim Storer (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was very pleased to be part of the majority that defeated Senator Hanson's motion yesterday. It's very important to note that this motion was on the Notice Paper in September, so it's been there for a significant period of time. There was plenty of time to review it, no matter what sort of a status you have in your office regarding advisers and the like. It's easy to say that coalition senators should have been thinking more deeply, but this was ridiculous and it was disgraceful. I see children above us here, watching us, and I hope that they can have this situation explained to them in a way that gives them faith in what the adults in this room are doing.

White oppression is not a problem in Australia, and to say so is quite clearly drawing an extremely long bow. Senator Hanson then added in a phrase that was clearly designed to bait and exacerbate the situation. This motion was something that was easily accessible; it was able to be read and reviewed within 30 seconds. This slogan is used by white supremacists, and we want to move as far as we can away from that sort of behaviour in Australia. We are one of the most successful multicultural nations in the world. Motions like yesterday's, particularly when a major party is supporting them, are extremely disturbing, and I'm very glad that I wasn't part of it.

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Everything that we say in this Senate chamber and everything that is said in the House of Representatives actually does matter. We might stand up here for minutes or for hours discussing all sorts of things, but the Australian people actually listen to what we say. There have been numerous comments on social media pages; there have been phone calls about the absolute hurt, disgust and distress at why this was something that the Senate would even consider.

The Senate has so many important issues to debate and to put forward in motion to improve the lives of disadvantaged people in this country and to improve the lives of all people of all colours, creeds and races.

When Senator Hanson moved the motion in here that it's okay to be white, I was looking for a champion on that side—a bit like Ron Boswell, a former Nationals leader who stood up, fought very strongly and knew, when it came down to it, that it really mattered that our country respected the differences and did so in a way that didn't denigrate and put down the lives of others. It is not okay to pinpoint, to humiliate or to make people feel that their achievements are less important than the next person's. When I sat in here and watched senators on the other side support the motion, I was looking for that Ron Boswell. I was wondering who was going to stand up and say, 'Hey, we're on the wrong side.'

We all know that Senator Hanson has form. We know in this Senate, in the parliament and right across Australia that Senator Hanson has form. The last champion who stood up against her sat in that seat: the former Attorney-General, George Brandis. Not only did we have a champion in him but all of this side stood up and applauded. What did we applaud? We applauded the real values of this country and that we will not tolerate racism; that we here in the parliament of Australia that represents all Australians will not tolerate racism. We will not accept it in any form, least of all a senator parading about in a very important guise that matters to so many Australians and not because there was any sincere intent—the intent was not sincere—to portray the different multicultural aspects of our country. That was not sincere intent, and George Brandis picked it for what it was. You failed to do that, Senator Cormann, and every senator on that side failed to do that.

There are moments when our country needs its leaders to see things for what they are. You were wilfully blind and wilfully deaf, and you come in here now and do not even have the graciousness to say, 'I'm really sorry.' Senator Dodson and myself, and Linda Burney in the House, as First Nations people, and other members of multicultural backgrounds, sit in here hoping that the parliament will always rise above those worst kinds of our human nature, which is what we must always unite in doing in this country. We must unite against those things that divide us based on our race and against those things that divide us on our disadvantage and differences in this country.

I am totally disappointed in the indigenous affairs minister. That is someone who should have been the champion on that side. That is someone who knows what it's like for First Nations people in this country to fight to have equal rights and to be unemployed to such an extent where they're being breached at extraordinary levels in this country, entrenching them in poverty to such a degree that it's a treadmill they cannot escape from. That is the champion we needed to see on that side of the Senate. The injustices that face First Nations people are injustices that continue. Just ask the families of Bowraville, who, decade after decade after decade, still do not have the answers to the murders and disappearances of their children.

Senators, there are 76 of us. We debate so many issues in this house, but there really does come a time when we have to call things for what they are. Motion No. 1092 was the most disgraceful day for our Senate.

Fraser Anning (Queensland, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday Senator Hanson moved a motion that merely condemned the rise of antiwhite racism and said it's okay to be white. There is absolutely nothing racist about these words, no matter how many on the other side try to bully us into believing it. Senator Hanson and I have had our differences, but she is completely correct on this. I agree it is okay to be white and I commend the government for supporting this motion, at least yesterday. However, the hysterical response of the opposition, the Greens and the media to anyone daring to say it's okay to be white only proves Senator Hanson's point. Right now in the Senate what we are seeing is antiwhite racism in action.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolute rubbish!

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Cameron.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolute rubbish!

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cameron.

Senator Cameron interjecting—

Senator Cameron, I've called you three times.

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

SIEWERT (—) (): I rise to make a brief contribution to this debate and explain to the government why the Greens will not be granting leave to recommit this motion. I was in the chamber yesterday for the whole of motions. When this motion came up and the division bells were rung and the government senators started filing in, I was one of the ones who were—I'll admit, Mr President—being unruly, as I was yelling across the table saying: 'What are you doing? What are you doing?'

Senators who came into this chamber from the government side of things knew what they were doing and chose to sit in those seats, so much so that, when Senator O'Sullivan came in and I was yelling at him, asking him if he knew what he was doing, he said: 'I don't know and I don't care, because you're over there, which means I'm over here. That's all I need when I come in. I don't look for the whip. I look for you people.' He then got out the Notice Paper and was looking at the Notice Paper. So it's a fiction to say that the government senators did not know what they were voting for. They did know what they were voting for, or many of them who sat there did—because he still sat there. When he read the motion, did he say: 'Oh my goodness me! I'm on the wrong side. We are making a mistake'? Did he say that? No, and neither did any of the other senators.

The Greens are not going to let the government get away with the fiction that this was a mistake, because it wasn't a mistake. We can't grant them leave to recommit, because you do that when there is a mistake that has been made or someone was out of the chamber. I've been in this place many times when this has occurred, including with some of my own senators, because they missed a vote. This is not that situation. The government knew what they were doing, and they've come back in here because they've seen the backlash from the community—and you've heard very eloquent contributions about the impact that has had on the government. What we will do, however, is give the government leave to bring in a new motion—if they want to do that today—that expresses this Senate's support for a strong multicultural community in Australia. We will support and give the government leave to bring in a motion of that nature, but we are not about to contribute to the fiction that there was a mistake made.

We all make mistakes. I acknowledge that. We have. I'm sure that none of us can stand, hand on heart, and say that we don't make mistakes. But this was not a mistake. Senators on that side of the chamber knew what was going on. They could not have not known what was going on, given the ruckus, quite frankly, that this end of the chamber was making yesterday—and I freely admit that I was one of those people saying, 'What are you doing?' In fact, I was probably using stronger language than that. They knew what they were doing and they still sat on that side of the chamber. Thank goodness yesterday the majority did not support that view, but it would be good for this chamber to pass a motion that expresses its strong support for our multicultural community in this country.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll be brief. I've seen some racist claptrap in my time in this place, but I have to say that what we saw yesterday from the LNP was down there with the worst of it—the very, very worst of it. And then they compounded the terrible error they made yesterday by coming in here today and claiming that it was because they'd made an administrative error. Leave aside the fact that the bells rang for four minutes. Leave aside the fact that everyone on that side of the chamber can read okay, I presume, and had the Notice Paper in front of them and had the capacity to make their own decisions. Leave aside all those things, and look at the context in which the LNP made the decision to vote for white supremacy in this Senate chamber yesterday. When you look at the context, you can actually understand that this was yet another step down a path that the LNP has been walking with absolute and utter deliberation for some time now in Australian politics.

We only found out in the last few days that neo-Nazis have infiltrated the Young Nationals. And, as an aside I might add, we found out in this chamber yesterday that they didn't even need to bother! Look at what the government has been saying. Government ministers were out there asserting that people in Melbourne were too scared to go out to dinner because of Sudanese gangs, ignoring the fact the Victoria Police have been very clear that there are no such things as Sudanese gangs operating in Melbourne. Again, not so much the dog whistle but the racist foghorn from Minister Dutton and ultimately former Prime Minister Turnbull, who backed his minister to the hilt when he was asked about Minister Dutton's assertion that Melburnians were too scared to go out for dinner and visit their local restaurants because of Sudanese gangs.

This government has made an absolute art form out of dancing with, and embracing, white supremacy. The only surprise about yesterday's vote was how blatant they were about it. Let's not forget they are running an offshore detention system based on torture and child abuse, and there is not a single white person locked up on Manus Island or Nauru. That regime has racism at its very core. We've seen them trying to introduce the White Australia policy by stealth, making it more difficult to get citizenship in this country if you come from a non-English-speaking background. Again, that is inherently racist. They're locking up Indigenous people, our First Australians, in record numbers. Yesterday was not an administrative error. This was a carefully calculated step down a path that the Liberals and Nationals have been walking with absolute deliberation for some time now. We do not accept that this was an administrative error, and that is why we're not going to give the leave that Senator Cormann will shortly seek.

What we are going to do is to continue to stand up for multicultural Australia and continue to stand up for every Australian to be treated equally no matter where they're from, no matter what language they speak at home, no matter how good their English is, no matter the colour of their skin, because it's only when we do that that we can give everyone in this country the maximum opportunity to prosper and the maximum opportunity to live a good life. If we are not about providing people with the best chance to lead a good life, what in fact are we doing in this chamber?

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

I'd like to put a few comments on the record in relation to this discussion. Yesterday, when the motion was being voted on, it was clear what the motion was. It was clear that it had been put up as a provocative stunt by Senator Hanson and One Nation. What was shocking was that the coalition decided to vote in support of it. And there was jeering across the chamber yesterday from some members of the coalition who said, 'I don't know what it is, and I don't care.'

Most of us in this place knew what it was about, and most of us cared. Thankfully, the majority of this chamber was able to defeat the motion. But the government has one of two problems or possibly both. Either they have members on their bench who are just so dull that they can't read the motion that they're voting on, or they don't care. Or in fact it was all a much more calculated decision and they just got caught out. I suspect that it was the latter because we know this motion has been sitting on the books for three weeks. There had been discussions. Apparently the Attorney-General's office knew about it. The leader of the government in this place knew about it. There was obviously a decision to vote yes for this motion, hoping that only the racists would notice and nobody else would. You got caught out, and why is that? It's because, fundamentally, Australia is a decent country.

The majority of people in this country are shocked and horrified that this type of attitude is being represented in this place. And the backlash from yesterday's support of the government of Pauline Hanson and One Nation was swift and it was fast, which is why we see the grovelling response today. But to try and blame this on some administrative mistake is laughable. No-one believes it. We know there are members on your own benches who would prefer to sit with Pauline Hanson than to sit alongside their own colleagues. You're a party riddled with division. And, as you fight amongst yourselves, you want to expose divisions that are in the broader community for your own political expediency. It's revolting, it's unbecoming of a government and you should be ashamed of yourselves. You're only coming into this place today because you're worried it might cost you the seat of Wentworth. I hope it does. You don't deserve to win that seat. You don't deserve to be in government. You've shown over and over again you don't deserve to represent and govern this country, with attitudes like this stinking on your benches.

There are decent people in the Liberal Party and there are decent people in the National Party, and those people must be horrified by some of the attitudes that surround them in that party room. We know there are decent people in the Liberal Party because we've seen three of them stand up today. We've seen three members of the Liberal Party stand up and say, 'Enough is enough,' in relation to how children are being treated on Nauru, and I tip my hat to them. What a pity their voice is so squashed, muffled and suffocated inside the rest of the coalition.

You're not sorry for voting for the motion yesterday; you're sorry you got caught out. You don't deserve to win the by-election. You don't deserve to be in government. The attitude presented by voting for this motion yesterday is not an attitude of a government that is prepared to govern for all; it's a government that is prepared to do whatever it takes to grovel to the darkest corners of society, to exploit division and hatred and fear. Senator Anning stood up here today clearly articulating that he knew exactly what this motion yesterday was about. Senator Pauline Hanson and One Nation knew exactly what this motion was about, and so did the government. It is appalling that it took decent Australians to have to call you out so swiftly for you to realise that you perhaps had better come in and clean it up. I'm not prepared to just allow you to recommit this vote. You don't deserve it. If you want to put in a motion that says you condemn that attitude then I'll think about supporting it. But you stuffed up and got caught.

There are members within the Liberal Party and the National Party who think the same as Pauline Hanson, and the sooner you get them out of your party and out of government, the better. It is time to stand up for decency and the history of this country, which has built itself on welcoming people. We don't need to go back to a white Australia. We don't need to pretend that there was some romanticised view of the world back then. It's 2018, and we are a proud multicultural nation. One in every three Australians in this country was born overseas. I'm glad they've chosen to make Australia their home. I'm glad to be and proud of living in a multicultural nation, in a community that accepts and celebrates diversity. We're much better and stronger for it. But we are being let down every day by the cowardice and racism that is reeking from inside this government.

Question agreed to.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I foreshadowed earlier, I seek leave to have the vote taken again on general business notice of motion No. 1092.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I should say, for the clarity of the Senate, I have had the Clerk staff notify Senator Hanson as a courtesy that this was coming up.

Leave not granted.