“This government has put in place measures to ensure that Australia remains a tolerant, harmonious community and one that respects difference and encourages individuals from a diverse background to contribute to our nation.”
The minister has been keen to exalt the work that this government has been doing in promoting harmony and unity in our multicultural community through the Living in Harmony program. The government's Living in Harmony program—and, in fact, Harmony Day itself— aims to encourage Australians to take a stand against racism, prejudice and intolerance. That is easier said than done, however, where this government is concerned.
It is ironic that the minister was comfortable receiving the preferences of Independent candidate Andrew Lamb in the recent federal election. Mr Lamb was found to be distributing a pamphlet that incited hatred and severe contempt of Muslims. In essence, this government has been two-faced about its commitment to tolerate, diversity and harmony. The Howard government does not believe in a multicultural Australia, despite what it may tell us publicly. Instead, for electoral gain, the government has been willing to sacrifice the hard fought for gains of all those who have worked to promote diversity and multiculturalism.
In fact, if you scratch the surface of this government's professed commitment to our multicultural society, you will find that it is a hollow commitment. The Prime Minister and his ministers give us the public line, while in the background and in the shadows they let loose the likes of Senator Lightfoot, who puts forward the other face of this government's commitment to diversity—the one that defiles and denigrates asylum seekers and, by extension, Muslim Australians, by describing them as `wretches unable to assimilate' and `uninvited and repulsive' people. As the federal member for Calwell, an electorate with one of the largest Muslim concentrations in the country, I am naturally appalled and disgusted.
I am also angry because it is not only the Muslim community or newly arrived migrants who have borne the brunt of vilification; it is now also Australians of other ethnic backgrounds, second- and even third-generation Australians. I, for example, have found myself at the receiving end of this government's version of tolerance and harmony. During the campaign last year, I was forced on many occasions to explain and defend my own ethnic extraction. After my 40 years of living here, some people felt that they could now question my bona fides as an Australian, describing my surname as `foreign' and wanting to be reassured that I was not of Middle Eastern extraction.
This was not just a case of the ramblings of some unashamedly ignorant individuals: ordinary residents in my electorate were suddenly fearful of their Muslim neighbours, led to suspicion by the very public and relentless vilification of asylum seekers by this government. During meetings with local Muslim women, I was told of their experiences since the Tampa and September 11 incidents. Their experiences were different from the ones exalted by the minister. Instead of experiencing tremendous harmony in Australia, they have experienced increased abuse. They have been derided because of their traditional dress and veils. Their children, born in Australia, were told to `go back where they came from'. They no longer felt safe walking the streets in their own neighbourhoods and shopping centres. They did not attend their regular community gatherings, and generally felt that they were no longer welcome in their own country.
The government and its ministers showed no leadership in allaying concerns. Instead, they carried on regardless, continuing to cast aspersions, knowing that this was gaining them the support they needed to win the election. Senator Lightfoot's comments are on the far end of the same spectrum of abuse used by this government to engineer its campaign of vilifying refugees while supposedly promoting tolerance and harmony. I often wondered during the election campaign which Australia I was living in. Was it the one that was supposed to be all those things that the government publicly boasted it to be? Hardly. The government's hypocrisy and deceit make it not only unfit to govern but a threat to the overall harmony of Australian society. Most Australians, I am certain, will support the sentiments of Harmony Day. Indeed, the Prime Minister and his minister would do well to take the advice of their Living in Harmony program and take a stand against racism, prejudice and intolerance. 
