CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr SMALL (Forrest—Opposition Whip) (09:47): Not a week passes by without a letter, call or email from a local constituent asking a pretty simple question: why has it become so controversial to be proud of Australia? Why are Australians today made to feel guilty simply for being Australian and for wanting to protect the Australian values that they have always known in the country they grew up in?

It's been disappointing to see the rise of hatred in our society and the deterioration of social cohesion. On Australia Day this year we saw instances of our national flag being set alight and we've seen our war memorials shamefully desecrated and vandalised on our own shores. These forms of national identity must be protected.

That's why the coalition has announced a plan to protect what makes our country great. Playing backyard cricket on a 35-degree summer day, taking the kids to sport on a Saturday morning or even just watching fireworks with family down at the beach on Australia Day: these are just some of the things that I think about when I think of what makes the Australian way of life great.

I don't want to lose what has made Australia the lucky country and many of my constituents don't want to lose that either. That's why the coalition are bringing forward the Australian National Symbols and Heritage Protection Bill. We will protect Australia Day; 26 January next year, and every year, ought to be Australia Day, and we will legislate it to be so.

Any change to that would need to be approved by the Australian people through a plebiscite. Coalition will also make it a federal offence to desecrate our national flag. Respecting and protecting our national identity should not be controversial in Australia today.

We will criminalise and punish those who deliberately damage, deface or destroy our war memorials, monuments, statues and plaques that all play a part in telling our national story. Freedom of speech is fundamental to this country and, indeed, any good democracy around the world. The coalition's plan won't limit that, but any desecration of our national symbols—the things that should unite us as a nation—shouldn't go unpunished.

Our diggers fought and died for the freedoms that we enjoy today, and our country is built on the back of those who have come here and worked hard for a better life for them and their families and the kids that follow them. That's what these symbols represent. They belong to Australia.

They belong to the Australian people. And that is why the Liberals have a plan to defend them.