O’Farrell addresses racism
NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell has used the opening of the Celestial City exhibition at the Museum of Sydney today to reinforce his views on the effect racism has on the community.
Barry O’Farrell
Premier O’Farrell said: “In commendably seeking to protect freedom of speech we must not lower our defences against the evil of racial and religious intolerance.
Bigotry should never be sanctioned, whether intentionally or not.
Vilification on the grounds of race or religion is always wrong.
There is no place for inciting hatreds within our Australian society.
We are, after all, the envy of so much of the world.
I lead Australia’s most culturally diverse State. We’re in a city which for more than 200 years has welcomed people from around the world. Our diversity, their cultures and contributions, are the foundations of NSW past and future success.
And we must avoid actions that would undermine these foundations.
We enjoy a history, as a State and nation, of which we can be overwhelmingly proud. But we must never forget that it also includes appalling examples of the consequences of intolerance and hatred.
No government, no organisation, no citizen can afford to be less than vigilant in combatting bigotry, intolerance and hatred.
Our way of life depends on it.”
Can you get over Brandis’s choice of words and mentality… a right to be a bigot, at home or privately, as I mentioned elsewhere, that in itself isn’t conducive to teaching children tolerance who live by example, it all begins in the home as history as proven.