Christchurch shooting: tribalism dividing Australia, says Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison has attacked tribalism as a dangerous force in Australian society in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks.

Scott Morrison in Melbourne yesterday. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has attacked tribalism as a dangerous force in Australian society, condemning those “from both sides” who would seek to distort the public debate to divide the nation in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks.

As Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was accused by Labor and the Greens of “normalising hate speech”, the Prime Minister delivered his strongest statement on the need for a more inclusive Australia.

“I want to remove the demarcation lines between Australians,” he told the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne.

“I see every Australian as an individual, not part of some tribal group to be traded off against another. And I believe, not in a tribalism that divides, but in an ‘us’ that unites.”

Announcing a $55 million boost to security for religious schools and places of worship, Mr Morrison attacked the “despicable appropriation” of concerns about immigration and border protection, saying Australia needed to be able to engage in a national discussion about population without the issue being “hijacked”.

“Just because Australians are frustrated about traffic jams and population pressures encroaching on their quality of life, especially in this city, does not mean they are anti-migrant or racist.

“But that is how the tribalists seek to confect it, from both sides.”

Bill Shorten called for Australia’s politicians to come together following the Christchurch tragedy, rather than short-term political pointscoring.

“What the Australian people want is some unity in our parliament,” he said in Perth yesterday. “They want the leaders of the nation to talk about what the people are feeling and not make short-term political points.”

But the call for unity came amid political infighting over comments by Mr Dutton, who compared his own left-wing critics to independent senator Fraser Anning, who blamed Muslim immigration for the Christchurch tragedy.

The Home Affairs Minister took aim at NSW Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, the Senate’s only Muslim member, who had condemned him over past comments on boatpeople, Lebanese Muslim immigration into Australia and African gangs in Melbourne.

Mr Dutton accused Senator Faruqi of a “desire to extract some sort of political attention-seeking or advantage”.

“People on the Left don’t like me because of Operation Sovereign Borders, that’s fine … their dislike of me, they will seek an opportunity,” he said.

“I’m hardly going to take morals lectures from the extreme Left who are, frankly, as bad in these circumstances as Fraser Anning.”

Labor Senate leader Penny Wong accused Mr Dutton of legitimising extremist views.

“Stop normalising hate speech, Peter. Political criticism is not the same as blaming Muslims for this terrorist act. Now is the time for decent politicians to show some ethical leadership,” she said.

The brawl came amid rising condemnation of Senator Anning from both sides of politics over his claim that Muslim immigration was “the real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets”.

But One Nation senator Pauline Hanson said she would not join a bipartisan move to censure Senator Anning over his comments when parliament returned, declaring it was “not going to prove anything”.

“Let’s find out the reasons behind this terrorist attack. Don’t shut down debate,” Senator Hanson said in a video released on One Nation’s social media accounts.

Senator Anning said in Brisbane he did not regret the statement he released following the Christchurch terrorist attack.

“I don’t think it can be called hateful speech if I state a fact,” he said. “When you bring lots and lots of Muslims into a country, violence escalates and terrorist attacks escalate.”

He said the more than one million signatories on a petition to have him thrown out of parliament were “entitled to their opinion”, but he had been told by “lots and lots” of people that they wanted him to stay.

Additional reporting: Charlie Peel