ADJOURNMENT
Ms KARA COOK (Bonner) (19:54): Australia is facing real challenges. Families are feeling pressure from the cost of living, and young people are worried about housing affordability. Communities expect governments to strengthen Medicare, invest in infrastructure and create opportunities for the next generation.
These are serious challenges. They deserve serious solutions. But, whenever Australia faces difficult issues, there are some who reach for the same, tired playbook: find someone to blame, create division, turn Australians against one another.
Over recent weeks, we have seen that playbook once again from One Nation. We've heard inflammatory rhetoric, we've seen divisive social media posts, and we've watched speeches designed to provoke outrage rather than contribute to solutions. I've heard from residents right across my electorate of Bonner that they are deeply concerned by what they are seeing and hearing.
They're concerned because they know it doesn't reflect who we are in my local community. They're concerned because they know that fear and division have never solved a single problem. They're concerned because they know that Australia's success has always been built on bringing people together, not tearing them apart.
I'm proud to represent one of the most diverse communities in Queensland. When I hear One Nation talk about migrants and multiculturalism as though they are a threat, I think about the people that I represent because Bonner tells a very different story. One in every three people in Bonner was born overseas.
Almost half of all residents have at least one parent who was born overseas. More than 14,000 households speak a language other than English at home. Across our suburbs, you'll hear Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Greek, Hindi and dozens of other languages spoken—not as something unusual and not as something foreign but as part of the rich social fabric of our community, the families who contribute every single day to making Bonner the vibrant, welcoming and successful community that it is.
When One Nation talks about migrants as though they are the problem, they're talking about one in three people in the community that I represent. When they suggest that Australia's diversity is something to fear, they're talking about thousands of families in Bonner. Most importantly, they're talking about Australians.
Let me be clear. Migration policy should be debated. A responsible government must ensure we have enough housing, infrastructure, schools, transport and health services to support a growing population.
Those are legitimate policy discussions. Reasonable people can disagree about migration settings, but there is a profound difference between debating migration policy and demonising migrants. There is also a profound difference between solving problems and looking for someone to blame.
One Nation wants Australians to believe that migrants are responsible for every single challenge that we face, but blaming migrants has never built a single home, it has never trained a nurse, it's never strengthened Medicare, it's never created a childcare place, and it's certainly never reduced the cost of living. Division is not a solution, and fear is not a policy.
Outrage is certainly not a plan. Leadership is about bringing people together, solving difficult problems with practical solutions. Leadership is about building a stronger future, not finding new ways to divide Australians.
Australia's story has been one of people coming together to build something bigger than themselves. Generation after generation, people from every corner of the world have chosen to make Australia home. They've worked hard, they've started businesses, they've raised their families and they've volunteered in our communities.
They've helped build the country we are all proud to call home. This is not a weakness; this is one of Australia's greatest strengths. Today, I reject One Nation's politics of division, I reject attempts to pit Australians against one another for political gain, and I stand with the people of Bonner—the community that I represent—who demonstrate every single day that our diversity is not something to fear.
It is something to celebrate because Australia's future will never be built on fear. It will be built on fairness, it will be built on opportunity, and it will be built on respect. It will be built by Australians from every background working together for a better future.