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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1030 ..

MS McRAE (continuing):

This is the legacy of putting conservatives in power. They open up and themselves express views that are very close to hers, and suddenly people think, "Maybe it was wrong to worry about women's rights. Maybe it was wrong to worry about Aboriginal rights. Maybe it was wrong to give immigrants a hand up. Maybe it was wrong to let students study. Why should we be so generous and kind? Maybe it is right that we have a right to hate all these people". They have been given permission. Our leaders today have opened up each of these doors and given permission for Pauline Hanson to flourish.

It is they who will stand condemned if her party carries through with the power that it has. It is they who stand condemned because they systematically ripped apart all the social justice initiatives that Labor had put in place, all the progress that we had seen in society about coming to terms with difference, about dealing with difference properly, about allowing Aborigines to determine their own future. They have put land ownership back a hundred years or so. They have made us feel that everything that Labor moved on was unworthy. That was the line of attack that came before the election - it was not put to bed during the election - and has been given permission ever since these people came to power.

Pauline Hanson is irrelevant. What is important is Mr Howard and his complete lack of leadership. Until he stands up and puts back together again all the damage that Herron, Vanstone, Ruddock, Borbidge and Court have done to Australia, we will continue to suffer the hatreds of Hanson and her like.

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education and Training) (11.58): Mr Speaker, I really wonder what Ms McRae's speech had to do with the motion. I sympathise with a lot of what Ms Reilly said, especially in terms of her experiences. She put a very well argued case in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country. I want to comment briefly on a few things that Ms McRae said and then go back to the motion.

This motion is about the politics of hate, and the politics of hate cross all party boundaries. I think there would be a danger here that there would be many people in the Australian community who might see some favour in the simplistic views, and, might I say, having had a quick look through this book, in many instances the incorrect views, expressed by Pauline Hanson. They might affect people who might normally vote Liberal or might normally vote Labor. When Ms McRae was talking Mr Humphries interjected about Arthur Calwell once saying, "Two Wongs don't make a white". However, Arthur Calwell instituted an excellent immigration program in this country and it was continued by the Menzies Government.

Ms McRae fails to realise, too, that Ms Hanson has come onto the scene after 13 years of Labor rule. I find it incongruous that Ms McRae blames the current Federal Liberal Government for the views Ms Hanson expresses. There is no logic whatsoever in that - absolutely none. In fact, when one looks at the history of the Liberal and National parties in recent times, over the last three or four decades, might I say - - -

Mr Berry: Hold your head down when you do it.

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