Jeff Kennett: Australia is at its best when we stand together
THERE was a divisive element to the federal election but our future lies in embracing and working with Asia toward joint prosperity, writes Jeff Kennett.
Analysis
Don't miss out on the headlines from Analysis. Followed categories will be added to My News.
IT’S easy to be intolerant. All you do is oppose, often in colourful language, the views of others. You don’t have to be logical. It’s much harder to do what is right. It might not be popular and you might well be accused of arrogance.
When Pauline Hanson was first part of federal Parliament, she raised the prospect of Australia being overrun by Asians. Regardless of which country in Asia people came from, Hanson did not distinguish. All were labelled as unwelcome.
Remember, this is a region with more than four billion people, where we are the anchor country. It is the sector from which Australia is gaining so much of its new wealth. Just as the authority of the world moved from Europe to the United States, so too is it now moving to Asia. It is the area that offers Australia, our industries and citizens, the most opportunity over the next century.
TTwo of our biggest exports are education and tourism. In fact I think education is Victoria’s biggest export industry and Asian students are a significant percentage of those coming here to learn. Tourism is increasingly important, with 1.2 million visitors coming to Australia from China alone in the past 12 months. That figure is growing.
For those two industries to grow, we need good relations with our northern neighbours. We need to be welcoming and tolerant.
Our future will also depend on our ability to sell not only our minerals, education and tourism offerings to our Asian friends but also, if the country ever gets around to it, food for the growing populations to our north.
Already most of those countries are net importers of food and the demand will increase.
Australia should be preparing to feed up to a billion people over the next few decades.
I hope Hanson has finished with her often intemperate views on Asia, Asian immigration and the like. After all, so many Australians now have been born of Asian parents. They are as Australian as I am. Many of Hanson’s recent comments have been directed at Muslims and the way they practise their faith, even to the point of being opposed to the construction of mosques in which people may pray.
Australia’s greatest strength since white settlement has been our increasingly multicultural society developed through waves of immigration. Yes, we have had some short-term issues with the arrival of many nationalities, but those have been replaced by co-operation and a recognition that they have helped build our economy. Victoria in particular has a proud record of multiculturalism and our politicians have been bipartisan on the issue, which is to their credit. If Hanson continues her current rhetoric, I hope our political, commercial and community leaders speak in favour of tolerance.
Our world is shrinking rapidly and we can’t isolate ourselves from it. We can never again try to be Fortress Australia. To do so will condemn an increasing number of Australians to dependency, a condition that governments will not have the capacity to address.
And don’t blame immigration for our growing levels of unemployment, particularly among our young. It’s mostly due to the failure of successive federal governments to create the environment for sustained growth.
Immigration adds capacity to the country where it occurs, for housing, food, clothing and so on.
I believe if many of the European countries that have had to accept so many people fleeing countries such as Syria and Iraq get it right, they will experience economic growth very quickly.
But don’t get me wrong. In a democracy, anyone is entitled to express their views, including Pauline Hanson. But as one of our legislators she has a duty to appreciate the impact of her comments and conduct.
As I said, it’s easier to attack or be divisive, than it is to take the time to explain the real benefits of a cohesive society.
I FEAR Australia is facing the most difficult three years of economic challenges most of us have ever confronted and we must remember that no one is correct on every issue. That is why the public has voted as it has. It wants to hear different voices when considering the nation’s interests. Voters were disillusioned by the two major parties. The recent vote was not a reflection on the public but a reflection on two parties that have lost their way.
If they are to have a long-term future, those parties must make some significant changes and they can start by having a strong bipartisan voice against those who preach division on any grounds.
Our capacity to be a united country, is the only base on which we can build the path to long term growth and stability.
A tolerant society, one which is respectful of others peoples heritage, colour, and religion is very important. As is respecting other people’s views, and where one differs from those views, challenging them in the best and only way acceptable, public debate.
Have a thoughtful day.
THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS I WANT TO ASK PAULINE HANSON
FORMER PM WARNS ISOLATING PAULINE HANSON WILL GET THEM NOWHERE
Jeff Kennett is a former premier of Victoria
Originally published as Jeff Kennett: Australia is at its best when we stand together
Prepare for a summer of discontent
The timing of the next federal election is likely to condemn us to an excruciatingly long unofficial campaign, sapping all the fun to Christmas and beyond, writes Patrick Carlyon.
Campbell: Why are Australians so bloody miserable?
It’s taken a Pom to point out that we are richer – much richer – even than countries we think of as our peers. But it’s not something we really grasp let alone celebrate.