New Barton MP Ash Ambihaipahar promises to stand up against ‘racism’

The new Labor MP acknowledged her electorate namesake and distanced herself from the “champion of the White Australia policy”.

Ash Ambihaipahar, the high-profile successor to Linda Burney in the Sydney seat of Barton, says her electorate’s namesake and Australia’s first prime minister Sir Edmund Barton would not have “envisioned” someone with her backstory.

Giving her maiden speech in parliament, while Ms Ambihaipahar didn’t make specific reference to Sir Edmund’s policies to restrict immigration, not recognise Indigenous Australians and the promotion of white superiority, she vowed to “stand up against racism, division and hate”.

The new MP also spoke about her Papua New Guinean and Tamil-Sri Lankan heritage while noting that Sir Edmund was the “champion of the White Australia policy”.

Ash Ambihaipahar delivered her maiden speech to parliament MP on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

Her references to Australia’s contentious founding father follows recent calls to remove his statue from an Indigenous burial site in Port Macquarie, a regional NSW town.

In 2020, his great-granddaughter Anne Barton also backed the campaign, describing Sir Edmund as a “man of his time and was deeply racist”.

Addressing her parliamentary colleagues, Ms Ambihaipahar said “as the architect of Federation” Sir Edmund would have “(recognised) the work needed to forge not just a nation but a just nation”.

“While Barton championed the White Australia policy, I live and breathe multiculturalism,” she told parliamentary colleagues on Wednesday.

“I stand here because others lifted me. That’s why I will always fight for antidiscrimination, for safety, for equity and unity.

“I know what it feels like to be different, to navigate different worlds. I’ve also seen how political tension can quickly mutate into real-world hate if not called out early.”

Ms Ambihaipahar previously campaigned for the NSW state seat of Oatley with Jodie Haydon and Anna Minns. Picture: NewsWire/ Supplied

In comparison to Sir Edmund, Ms Ambihaipahar described her childhood growing up in the suburb of Hurstville.

She said she was “that dark skinned little girl running through the streets of Barton who never felt out of place”.

Ms Ambihaipahar also paid tribute to former minister for Indigenous Australia, Ms Burney, who retired from politics ahead of the May 3 poll and urged fellow MPs to “ensure” this parliament is “defined by unity, by courage and by decency”.

“Your advocacy for First Nations peoples has shaped this country’s moral conscience,” she said.

“I will walk in your footsteps with awe and admiration.”

Despite previously narrowly losing out on winning the NSW state seat of Oatley, Ms Ambihaipahar, who hails from the party’s Left faction, was hand-picked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to run for Barton.

While the move angered Labor’s Right faction, Ms Ambihaipahar retained the Labor stronghold seat and increased the margin by 4 per cent to 12 per cent.

Originally published as New Barton MP Ash Ambihaipahar promises to stand up against ‘racism’