More voices raised against Senator Anning

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The Labor opposition in NSW and The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council have spoken out against remarks made n the maiden speech of Senator Fraser Anning invoking the phrase “Final Solution”  and calling for a plebiscite to restrict Muslim immigration and those who are English-speaking.

Dr Colin Rubenstein

“Our overwhelmingly successful Australian multiculturalism and our robust, non-discriminatory immigration policy are rightly hallmarks of our diverse and inclusive society,” said AIJAC Executive Director Dr. Rubenstein, a former member of the Council for a Multicultural Australia.

“Senator Anning’s counter-productive, crude rhetoric deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms. In particular, his reference to a ‘final solution’ to Australia’s immigration policy in such a forum is beyond deplorable and beneath the dignity of our Parliament. Even his Parliamentary colleague Bob Katter MHR, in his rambling, ill conceived defence of Senator Anning, called the term ‘one of the worst statements in all of human history.’ Now that he has unequivocally become aware of its ugly meaning, we call on Senator Anning to offer a full and unreserved apology for his use of the term,” Rubenstein said.

“It is also very disappointing that Bob Katter has so strongly backed Senator Anning’s sentiments, and used this opportunity to cast a shameful slur at Josh Frydenberg, a proud and outspoken Jewish Member of Parliament. This represents  language and sentiments that do not belong in our Parliament,” Mark Leibler, AIJAC National Chairman, added.

“Both Senator Anning and Mr. Katter should also reflect on the commendable bipartisan, almost universal, condemnation of Anning’s discriminatory, outdated views among his Parliamentary colleagues,” concluded Leibler.

The speech made has been met with widespread condemnation, including by the Labor Party in NSW.

Acting NSW Shadow Minister for Multiculturalism Jihad Dib spoke at the first available opportunity in the NSW Parliament to reiterate that condemnation on behalf of NSW Labor and NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley.

Mr Dib described Senator Anning’s speech as racist and divisive and specifically condemned Senator Anning’s use of language strongly associated with Nazis – invoking one of the darkest periods in human history.

In his role as Acting Shadow Minister for Multiculturalism, Mr Dib called on the NSW Parliament to reaffirm its support for a non-discriminatory immigration policy and to actively call out divisive so-called ‘dog whistle’ politics. Mr Dib also thanked Members of Parliament from different sides of politics who had come forward to defend multiculturalism and condemn Senator Anning’s speech.

Luke Foley

Mr Dib, the state’s first lower house Islamic MP, used his own inaugural speech in May 2015 to speak of his own family’s migrant history, his pride in and appreciation of the multicultural success of Australia but he also warned of threats of intolerance and ignorance.

He said: “Senator Anning’s speech is not just academic to me – it is deeply personal and offensive, to all people from a diverse ethnic or religious background and to all Australians who love our country because of its diversity.

“To hear a term like ‘final solution’ used so flippantly sickens me.  How could anyone elected to the Australian Senate have such callous disregard for the feelings of communities so deeply and tragically impacted by one of the one of the most murderous fascist regimes in history?

I hope that the outrage about this overt racist speech is not just one-off.  Casual, everyday racism, tolerated by many, is the breeding ground for intolerance and gives people like Senator Anning the misguided idea that what he has said is OK.  It is not OK. We need to be vigilant.

Despite Senator Anning’s speech I am very optimistic about our future as a modern multicultural nation.  I thank all public figures and MPs from around the country, in State and Federal parliaments for standing up for fairness, respect and decency.”

Mr Foley today confirmed that Labor will refuse to preference One Nation, and other candidates who promote racially discriminating migration polices, at the 2019 NSW election.

Luke Foley said:  “It’s unacceptable for a person elected to represent the Australian people in the Senate to spread such racist and divisive notions.

I and my Labor colleagues utterly condemn Senator Anning’s speech which does not reflect the true values of our multicultural nation.”

Mr Foley has challenged Gladys Berejiklian and John Barilaro to make the same commitment on behalf of the Liberal and National parties.

The Federal Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge said in parliament: “We condemn Senator Anning’s comments last night in his maiden speech. “They are not views shared by the Government, the Opposition nor any fair-minded Australian. We will always maintain a non-discriminatory immigration program.

The whole of Australia should hear those conclusions loudly and clearly today as a result of the remarks of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Home Affairs, the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and others.

The Prime Minister is right when he consistently says that Australia is the most successful multicultural country in the world.

We have welcomed people from across the world to our shores, and in the process we’ve all been enriched and have largely maintained incredible social cohesion despite our diverse intake.

The thing which unites us is our core values, as the Prime Minister articulated, of freedom of speech, of the fair go, of equality between men and women.

The rest of Australia welcomes with absolutely open arms people who want to come to Australia to adopt those values and make a contribution, regardless of where they’re from, their racial background, their religious background, their heritage or anything else.

That’s the only thing that matters.

We obviously continually refine our immigration programs to ensure that we maintain our overall success as a nation. As the members of this chamber know, we abolished the 457 visa program last year, for good reason.

Alan Tudge

We constantly want to work on ensuring that we guarantee our social cohesion going forward into the future.

But Senator Anning’s comments didn’t contribute to any progression of Australia’s social cohesion or address some of the challenges which we might face. To the contrary, I think they did the reverse.

Many of Senator Anning’s comments were factually ignorant, but there were other comments that he made that were deeply divisive, as Members of this Parliament have pointed out today.

Then there was his final comment which was not just deeply divisive but very, very offensive and hurtful, particularly to members of the Jewish community—that is, the use of the phrase ‘the final solution’.

That is a phrase which should never be used when discussing immigration matters or citizenship or any such other matters. It should never be used in that context.

I think that if Senator Anning had an ounce of character he would apologise for using that statement. He should rightfully do that, even if, as he maintains, he did not appreciate the context.

We live in a terrific nation. It is a proudly multicultural country where we welcome people from around the world. We’ve got to work to continue to maintain this social cohesion.

I hope that all Australians today will hear very loudly the Government, led by the Prime Minister, and the Opposition, led by the member for Maribyrnong, calling out divisive comment, racially based comment and saying that we will always maintain a non-discriminatory immigration program.”