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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 3652 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

equally and, as Ms Tucker said, enjoy absolute equality of opportunity for all Australians.

Ms Tucker made the very good point that the place, the institution, for ensuring the greatest degree of equality and opportunity is our education system. That is where it starts. That is where the greatest opportunities exist for ensuring an equal, fair and just community. As a community, we have to ensure that every child, every person, has equal access to high-quality education. Everything flows from that in terms of our determination to ensure that our community is responsive to the needs of everybody, irrespective of their ethnicity, their background, their colour, or any of the other indicators that have at different times discriminated against some people in their opportunities to participate equally in Australia and our community.

We need to acknowledge in a debate of this sort that there has been a struggle for people from different backgrounds, particularly for people who are not white. We proudly declare our commitment to multiculturalism these days. We abhor racism. The Attorney-General and I made statements last week in relation to the attack on the Jewish synagogue, something which is not to be tolerated in this community. It is a signal that there is still work to be done. We need to remain vigilant.

In a discussion of this sort, it is important that in our enthusiasm for multiculturalism, in our opposition to Hansonism, in our preparedness to stand here and rail against racism, intolerance and discrimination, we acknowledge that we as a nation continue to face some significant issues around race, racism, racial discrimination and racial vilification.

In addition to the stark issue of an attack on the Jewish synagogue which the Canberra community suffered just 10 days ago, there is within Australia a significant debate, a disturbing debate, around gang-related crime. As Ms Tucker said, there has been a propensity for nations throughout history to scapegoat certain groups and certain organisations. We continue to have this propensity to blame particular groups.

I have had representations from members of the Vietnamese community here in Canberra about the association which the Vietnamese community in Australia has suffered in community news about the genesis, the backbone or the mainstay of drug dealing in Australia. There are genuine issues in relation to our identification of a certain criminal activity with certain groups within the community.

These are issues we need to face up to. We should not be afraid to talk about some of these continuing issues that are race related or race backed. There is a major debate occurring in Sydney at the moment around the activities of certain so-called Middle Eastern gangs. These are worrying descriptions. These are issues that we need to continue to grapple with.

Racism was a feature of the launching of the One Nation Party-a party which to a large extent did not hesitate to generate a fear of foreigners as the mainstay of its policy.

There are issues we need to remain mindful off. There are significant issues affecting ethnic communities here in Canberra which still need to be addressed. There are issues around isolation of older people within some ethnic communities. Their isolation is generated by the fact that they do not have English as a first language. There are

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