STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator BABET (Victoria—United Australia Party Whip) (13:48): When I first heard reports that a jihadist had attempted to hijack a plane from Dubai, I had just one thought: somehow Melbourne's got to be involved in this story. And, sure enough, there it was: the hijacker was reportedly radicalised while studying at RMIT University in Melbourne and regularly attended a mosque associated with the university.

Think about that for just one moment: Melbourne is now making international headlines because a terrorist was, according to reports, radicalised while studying there. Is anyone surprised? I'm not.

The place is a dumpster. For more than a decade, Labor has governed Melbourne as though social cohesion will simply take care of itself. We've seen extremists, radical activists, anarchists, Antifa, communists and every variety of hard-left agitator find fertile ground in that city.

Show me someone that has a grievance, a chip on their shoulder or an axe to grind, and there's a fair chance they've spent at least some time in Labor-run Melbourne. Then we discover that Labor's federal home affairs department reportedly gave 60 grand to the Islamic Centre, where this hijacker allegedly encountered those who radicalised him. Victorian Labor gave the same organisation almost 400 grand.

Government should not be spending any money whatsoever encouraging separate cultural enclaves while neglecting the one identity that identifies all of us: Australian. That's it. If you come here, become a part of Australia.

Adopt our customs and our way of life. Immigration must strengthen a nation, not slowly divide it into parallel societies with less and less holding them together. We don't need a dozen separate cultures competing under numerous flags here.

We need one country, one people, one shared Australian identity. Melbourne deserves better. Australia deserves better.

As I said yesterday, it's one nation or no nation.