Wednesday, 20 March 2019

 Mr DIMOPOULOS (Oakleigh) (10:13): I rise to offer my condolences to the victims and their families in Christchurch, to the entire Muslim community and to the broader community in New Zealand and in Australia. It is something that has deeply affected all of us, as we saw during yesterday’s condolence motion. Further, as the member for Clarinda did, I attended my local mosque on the weekend, and it was the most beautiful and moving day because there were hundreds of people in the 45 minutes that I was there, let alone for the rest of the day. It was always in my diary that I would go to the mosque on that day. It had been in the diary for weeks, but it took on a particular resonance given what had happened in Christchurch.

I also want to say that I fully support the bipartisan motion moved today in the house against Senator Fraser Anning, but I also echo the words of the member for Mildura yesterday. I do not want to verbal her, but effectively it is not just about people like Senator Anning; it is broader and it is more insidious. I think we all need to be careful and we all need to be mindful of the permission and the underwriting, as the Premier said, that we provide to a narrative that then allows some people to act violently. We cannot absolve our conscience by just condemning Senator Anning. It is broader than that, and I think we all need to be very, very mindful and careful not to provide authorisation for any behaviour or words that lead to actions like that.