Thursday, 18 June 2026

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:12): Yesterday we heard a vision for Australia of a monoculture. I asked people on social media to explain to me what that means, and no-one could really give a good explanation, although I copped lots of abuse. There has never been a monoculture in Australia. The first settlers came from many cultures, and they came to a land that already had hundreds of languages and belief systems. I love the culture of Melbourne, where I grew up, and it is not the same culture, for example, of someone from South Australia or Queensland. We do not do potato scallops and schooners in Victoria. I meet lots of people throughout my electorate who come from many different cultures, and some of them must be wondering if they are going to be excluded from this new monoculture. Indeed I am wondering myself whether I would be excluded.

I tell people when I get invited to citizenship ceremonies to take their pledge seriously and that they should share our democratic beliefs, uphold and obey our laws and respect our rights and liberties. I think that we should care way less about culture than values, because these values are the glue that has held Australia together. As a libertarian, I do not believe that there is such a thing as a monoculture, but I do believe in the rights of the individual to follow their own beliefs, to eat their own food and to make their own choices, and so long as we share some basic values, we can be proud of our culture and whatever we choose to do.