Thursday, 5 February 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:53): (2288) My adjournment matter is for the attention of the Premier, and the action I seek is that the Premier join me in condemning all forms of extremist ideology and loudly and publicly supporting Australia Day. On the National Day of Mourning and not long before Australia Day, two historic monuments in Flagstaff Gardens were vandalised. One statue honouring Melbourne’s earliest settlers stood proudly for 155 years. On the morning of 22 January it was found torn down, smashed and defaced with pro-Hamas symbols. I support free speech, but I vigorously oppose those who foment and execute vandalism, violence and the deliberate desecration of our history. Such individuals should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Australia is undisputedly the greatest, freest and luckiest country in the world. That is why, along with millions of my fellow citizens, I was proud to celebrate Australia Day with friends and family. While Darebin council in the northern suburbs continues to fly a foreign flag, the flag of Palestine, I am proud to fly the Australian flag. While a Greens Merri-bek councillor chose to wear a keffiyeh during a council meeting, I supported Tuesday’s motion extending our sympathies to the victims of the Bondi Beach attack. And while others seek to move the date of Australia Day, I remain immovable on 26 January. The country our courageous ancestors built is increasingly undermined by radical Islamist extremists, aided knowingly or unknowingly by ignorant, cowardly and morally bankrupt political leaders and their far-left agitators marching on our streets. Those individuals who hate our shared values have no place in this city, they have no place in our state and they have no place in our nation. Whether our families have been on this land for thousands of years or hundreds of years, or whether you arrived recently, we must collectively defeat this anti-Australian agenda decisively and without apology. So Premier, please join me in condemning all forms of extremist ideology and loudly and publicly get your act together and support Australia Day.