Wednesday, 23 September 2026

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (19:17): (1856) My adjournment is for the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, and the action I seek is that the minister update me on our government’s work to address vilification and discrimination against our multicultural communities. As the minister knows, we have so many incredible multicultural and multifaith communities, particularly in Melbourne’s west, and I have to say it has just been such a pleasure to visit so many of them over the past couple of weeks: Quang Minh temple in Braybrook, the Australian Vietnamese Women’s Association and the Vietnamese Museum Australia. Al-Taqwa College – I was there last week; our Filipino community groups; the East African Women’s Foundation; our Greek Orthodox churches in Sunshine West; our Maltese, Greek and Latino seniors groups across the electorate; the Baitul Makmur Laverton mosque; the Australia Light Foundation; SMVS Hindu temple in Tarneit; the BAPS; and our Hoppers Crossing Gurdwara – there are too many to name.

When I speak to these communities, what they are greatly concerned by is the rise of racism that is now plaguing Victoria. They are worried about vilification and vile hatred that is increasingly directed at them, and they are saddened to see that there always seem to be some people in the community who are keen to punch down on them, especially when we members of Parliament engage with them. Indeed I have seen these comments accusing us of cosplaying for wearing a head covering while visiting a mosque or a temple, for instance. Let me be clear: it is not cosplaying when you dress appropriately to enter a cultural space that you have been invited to as a guest. You should not dress inappropriately when entering a church, and you should not dress inappropriate when you enter a mosque or a temple. Yet these communities always cop the worst whenever we meet them. It is insidious, it is destructive, and I will call it out as racism for what it is. It is evil. But this kind of rhetoric is exactly what One Nation and their anti-migrant rhetoric have emboldened.

Let us be clear. Labor stands up for a community where everyone is accepted, no matter their skin colour, their religion or even their postcode. One Nation has demonised migrants, insulted our multicultural communities and nurtured and incited this kind of racism. When you play a game of ‘Spot the white person’ like their state president did, you embolden and you incite this kind of hatred that we are seeing both online and in person. It is pretty sad, and it is pathetic that the Liberal Party want to do preference deals with One Nation at the expense of the multicultural communities that they claim to care about.

I am proud to stand here, and I am proud to say to One Nation and their army of racist online bots that if they want to come after multicultural communities in Melbourne’s west, well, they have to come through me, because only Labor will stand with our multicultural and multifaith communities against this tide of hate.