Divisive Fraser Anning speech unites leaders
QUEENSLAND Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has followed Prime Malcolm Turnbull and federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten in condemning Senator Fraser Anning’s maiden speech, saying his comments were “disgusting”.
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PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition leader Bill Shorten have given powerful speeches in Parliament this morning condemning Senator Fraser Anning’s “Final Solution” address and supporting diversity.
Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten shook hands after their speeches, in a rare moment demonstrating the united front.
The Labor leader said it was dangerous to give too much attention to Senator Anning’s comments “at the risk that we give oxygen to stupidity”, but that it was important to call out racism.
“Right-wing extremists are turning this into a political art form,” he said.
“They say something hateful or homophobic or sexist or racist, something designed to humiliate and denigrate and hurt, and, when their comments are condemned, they complain about political correctness gone mad, or the thought police stifling their free speech, all the while basking in the media attention.
“Free speech is a cherished value in Australian society but it is not an unfettered right to hurt, to bully, to intimidate, to make some Australians feel less equal than other Australians.
“Truth and consistency doesn’t trouble these people. They say the migrants are bludging on welfare that they are also buying our houses. They say they are an educated but they are filling our universities.”
He said the Parliament needed to draw and line and could not turn a blind eye to racism.
“We are a stronger, better country for all those who have come across the seas to join their lives to ours,” he said.
“A good Australian is not dictated by skin colour or worship. It is the kindness you show in another’s trouble and the courage you show in your own.”
Mr Turnbull said the reference to the “Final Solution” was appalling, noting the largest number of holocaust survivors outside Israel live in Melbourne.
“The reference in Senator Anning’s speech to the Final Solution is a shocking insult to the memory of over 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust,” he said.
Mr Turnbull said anyone who sought to demonise all Muslims for the actions of a tiny minority were helping the terrorists.
“The vast majority of the victims of Islamist terrorism are Muslims. The Islamist terrorists are, in the words of my friend, President Joko Widodo, president of Indonesia, they are blasphemous. He says they are not Muslims,” he said.
He said it was always important to call out racism.
“We need to stand up for what we are, a free society, the most successful multicultural society in the world might united by democratic values that do not distinguish between race, religion, colour, cultural background,” he said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Mr Anning had failed in his duties to uphold Australian values.
Speaking at the Ekka this morning, Ms Palaszczuk called on Senator Anning’s boss, Bob Katter to apologise for the comments, saying Queensland has a proud history of migrants.
“When you are elected to become a senator, there is enormous amount of responsibility that comes with that. And that means upholding Australian values and that also means being respectful,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said her grandparents fled World War II in the search for a “better future.”
“That is the story of so many migrants coming to our shores for a better future for our children and for a better future for ourselves and they give to the country that they settle in,” she said.
“Fraser Anning’s comments are disgusting, they have no place in Australia or do they have any place in Queensland.
“We all share values of freedom and equality, we have come a long way.”
MPs RESPOND TO ‘FINAL SOLUTION’ SPEECH
* “It was just two words. The thought police have jumped on it and they have taken it completely out of context.”
* “I’m not going to apologise or regret anything I say.”
- QUEENSLAND SENATOR FRASER ANNING, WHO DELIVERED THE SPEECH
* “These comments by a member of the Australian parliament were ignorant and insensitive, they were hurtful and they were divisive.”
* “I call on Fraser Anning not only to apologise but also to go and visit a Holocaust museum.”
- JEWISH TURNBULL GOVERNMENT MINISTER JOSH FRYDENBERG
* “The simple truth is this - we are a stronger, better country because of all of those who’ve come across the seas and joined their story to ours.” - OPPOSITION LEADER BILL SHORTEN
* “Senator Anning’s remarks are appalling. I condemn them and I reject them in their entirety.
* ” We reject and condemn racism in any form.”
- PRIME MINISTER MALCOLM TURNBULL
* “I don’t think it’s acceptable that someone in the Australian Senate could claim to be so ignorant of the Second World War and the terminology associated with the Shoah that he could use that language and pretend it was an accident.”
- DEPUTY LEABOR LEADER TANYA PLIBERSEK
* “Combined we are united to condemn those words that were expressed last night, unfortunately, wrongly, in the Senate. I don’t even want to mention his name.”
- DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MICHAEL MCCORMACK
* “I was appalled by his comments and his remarks.”
- ONE NATION LEADER PAULINE HANSON, WHO HAS ALSO CALLED FOR BAN ON MUSLIM IMMIGRATION
* “I’m tired of having to stand up against against vilification, time and time and time again.”
- LABOR MP ANNE ALY
* “Think of what might be happening in some of the schoolyards in Australia today. Those of us who have been on the receiving end of racism know what it feels like. And know what leaders say matters.”
- LABOR SENATOR PENNY WONG
* “It is an over-reaction to a term which has multiple meanings. Nobody owns the term ‘final solution’.”
* “If you are a little snowflake, you can go rushing around, taking offence at all kinds of things.”
- LIBERAL DEMOCRATS SENATOR DAVID LEYONHJELM
* “We have a responsibility as political leaders to call it out and fight against what is effectively a fascist view of the world.”
- LABOR MP PETER KHALIL
* “There was hardly a group of Australians he did not offend unless you were very close to being a member of the Ku Klux Klan.”
- INDEPENDENT SENATOR DERRYN HINCH
* “Australia was forced to confront the fact that there are individuals who will seek to exploit questions of race, ethnicity and religion for base political motives.”
- GREENS LEADER RICHARD DI NATALE
* “This is a myopic red-neck reaching out from another time to another people. Modern Australia has moved on.”
- LABOR MP GRAHAM PERRETT
* “Fraser Anning’s comments on immigration do not reflect the views of the government nor the views of fair minded Australians. We will always maintain a non-discriminatory immigration program.”
- MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS MINISTER ALAN TUDGE
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