Immigration

22 November 2016

I rise to repudiate the offensive and disgraceful remarks by Australia's immigration

minister. Last week, Minister Peter Dutton stated:

The reality is Malcolm Fraser did make mistakes in bringing some people in the 1970s …

And, as if that were not bad enough, yesterday we saw the immigration debate in Australia brought to a new low.

I proudly represent one of the largest Vietnamese communities in Australia—hardworking men and women

who fled a brutal Communist regime during the 1970s in the hope of a better life for their children and

grandchildren. Over the past decades, like many in Australia, tens of thousands of Vietnamese Australians have

greatly contributed to our society through just about every endeavour possible. In the south-west of Brisbane I am

proud of my friends in the many Vietnamese senior associations who have achieved great success, particularly

through business and commerce. They have worked so hard to see their children and grandchildren prosper, and

I will not have their name and their contribution trashed by this minister and this government.

Today I call on the Prime Minister to show some leadership, apologise and reject his minister's comments. As

the federal Leader of the Opposition remarked yesterday, enough is enough. Prime Minister, our hardworking

migrant communities deserve better than a leader who wants to remove protections against hate speech and will

not stand up to this sort of bigotry from a disgraceful immigration minister. I, like many members on this side

of the House, will always stand up for multiculturalism in the great electorate of Oxley.