Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – Thank you to everyone who spoke. It has been a genuinely moving moment to hear people’s reflections and different histories coming to bear in this place. I think to what the Premier said, that we are truly the most diverse parliament ever in Tasmania in many ways, and that’s exciting. It will be a balm, I think, for people who are watching or who get a chance to read these words. I’m sure members will – and I encourage us all to – spread the statements that people in this place have said far and wide. I think it’s something that we should be proud of. I didn’t expect to get quite as much passion. It’s been really joyful hearing people’s united concern for the rest of the people in our community.
It’s not just for Aboriginal and multicultural migrant communities that we’ve been speaking for today; it’s all Tasmanians. I have spoken to many young people in particular who are really devastated by what they saw in those fascist and anti-immigration rallies. They couldn’t believe what they were confronting in a society that they thought was open and welcoming. For them it was a shock to see fascists on the streets being seen to have the imprimatur of society just by the presence and them talking out loud.
We have all heard the message of what we’ve said here today. Although we talk and understand that these people are a small minority of Tasmanians, we can never let our guard down. We always have to resist the kind of hate speech that we’ve seen on the streets. In the current world we live in with social media, we can’t control how things can amplify and build. There are many reasons why people can justifiably feel disaffected and suffering with circumstances, and they can be taken along for a ride, given misdirection, their dark sides fed into. Humans – history shows none of us are invulnerable.
As the Premier said, it was good for him to reflect on the history of World War II. Let us never forget not just the Tasmanians and Australians who went to fight in that war, but the reason that they went to fight it in the first place, what caused that to happen – that populism we are vulnerable to in the global environment.
We have an opportunity now. The government obviously has the reins of the purse of Treasury and has the opportunity to set in place the programs that some of the people who went to those rallies were reasonably there concerned about – suffering under cost‑of‑living pressures, unable to get health care when they need it, unable to get homes when they need them, living in difficult circumstances. They feel left behind – and they have been left behind. They’ve been left behind by a failure of government services. They’ve been left behind by big corporations squeezing people out, and the inhumane, robotic kind of bureaucratic systems that have been created – hard for many people to live in.
We have also left behind Tasmanian Aboriginal people. We have a duty to bring real justice to this place in this term of parliament. It’s not just the job of the government, it’s the job of the opposition and the crossbench to continue to advocate for a truth‑telling commission to happen immediately, and for a treaty to come at the end of it, for the return of lands and a proper Aboriginal Heritage Act that will genuinely protect ancient Aboriginal heritage.
These are things everyone in this Chamber can do. It is not all on the government; it is on us as well. As the Premier said, we do not want to lose this beautiful fabric of the society that we all get so much wealth and richness from living in every single day.
Thank you to all the members for accommodating and talking me through, on behalf of the Greens, changes to the motion so that we could come up with a set of words that people supported. I appreciated the work and thought people put into that. Thank you especially to the multicultural communities who are here today and who stand up every day for people in Tasmania. I look forward to working with everyone in the rest of this parliament to make Tasmania a more welcome and inclusive place.
Motion agreed to.
