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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1024 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I believe we can be proud of our history, but that does not mean we should hide those parts of it which are difficult or even shameful. I think it is the test of our courage as a nation if we have grown large enough to stare our failures in the eye. The lessons from our past teach us that if we fail to protect the rights of the weakest among us we fail the most fundamental test of a just society.

As a local politician, I am mainly interested in simple issues like making sure that the garbage is collected, that there are good enough schools for our kids, and that we live in a safe community; but, as a citizen of Australia, I have watched the Hanson saga progress with a great deal of sadness because I believe she is misleading many good-hearted people. To me, she personifies the worst elements of the human character, and I think she is probably the most destructive politician this country has ever had. To those who are drawn by the simplistic solutions she offers I can only say, "Do you really want an Australia built on fear, hatred and envy?". I do not. In summary, Mr Speaker, if her party crawls out from under its rock at the next ACT election it will have no more vocal opponent than me.

MR KAINE (Minister for Urban Services) (11.32): Mr Speaker, I will be brief. I think Mr Wood today has introduced into this place a subject that ought to be a matter of paramount importance to all of us because it is not just a short-term phenomenon and it is one that can severely damage the future of this nation if we ignore it. We are seeing something that we have never seen previously in this country. What we are seeing for the first time is the politics of bias, bigotry, prejudice and hate. This country has been built on waves of migrants. Much of that migration has occurred during my lifetime. While there have been some minor frictions, by and large those various waves of migrants, from the United Kingdom, from Eastern Europe, from South America, from Asia, have been welcomed into this country and collectively have made a country that we can all be proud of.

This new phenomenon, if not nipped in the bud, is going to poison all of that good work that we have achieved over many decades. The interesting thing about this brand of politics is that it manifests itself through the medium of scapegoats. If I feel deprived, then somebody else is responsible. For the time being certain targets are in the sights. They are Aboriginals and they are Asian migrants. But, if it is allowed to continue, how long will it be before other groups are targeted? I think it is dangerous politics that we have not seen before, and we cannot allow it to continue to grow now.

What we are seeing, as some other speakers have alluded to, is the politics of racism and the politics of the extreme Right. I do not know whether Pauline Hanson is a racist or not. She says not; but, when you read what she says, the words, I think, to some degree, speak for themselves. It is clear that, either wittingly or unwittingly, Pauline Hanson is in the process of becoming a catalyst for racists, a catalyst for the extreme Right, a catalyst for the politics of hate. To me, that makes her actions unacceptable in this society which, as I have said, by and large, up until now, has been a tolerant society and one in which this kind of politics has not been manifest.

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