Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will not break a decades-long bipartisan position of supporting multiculturalism, saying he still supports “a version” of it after dithering under questioning yesterday.
But Mr Taylor said he was not satisfied with the current settings, saying there had been recent arrivals to Australia “who do not believe” in democracy and Australia’s freedoms.
Mr Taylor was asked five times on Tuesday whether he still supported a policy of multiculturalism, or whether the Coalition would also pursue One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s vision of a monoculture.
The Opposition leader avoided giving a commitment, throwing the question of how multiculturalism was defined back at reporters, and saying what he supported was people sharing “core Australian values”.
Labor latched onto his exchange with reporters, attacking Mr Taylor during Question Time for his response.
This morning, several Liberal MPs took to the airwaves to clear up the confusion.
Deputy leader Jane Hume said Australia was “already” a multicultural society.
“This is a ridiculous argument. I can’t believe that we’ve managed to get ourselves into this. I reject the politics of identity of the left on multiculturalism but, my goodness, I also reject the policy of cultural fear on the right,” she said.
Jane Hume says the Coalition still supports multiculturalism. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
Liberal frontbencher Anne Ruston said Australia was “built on multiculturalism”.
“We want a future for Australia that is built on respecting our values and our way of life … and the future of Australia is one that is based on multiculturalism,” Senator Ruston told ABC Radio National.
“I am not going to go into semantics on who said what word, but I do know that we in the Coalition believe in an Australia where everyone respects our laws, they share our values, and contribute to the fabric of our country, and that is multiculturalism and that is what we believe in.”
Liberal senator Maria Kovacic said the Coalition believed migrants were a “core part” of Australia’s modern history.
“Anyone that’s trying to suggest that we are not for that, that that is not part of our plan, and that is not part of who we are as a party, perhaps actually doesn’t understand what they’re talking about,” she said.
Angus Taylor says migrants ‘not welcome’ if they don’t adopt Australian values
Speaking on 2GB, Mr Taylor said he supported “a version of multiculturalism”.
“Making sure that people who come to this country contribute to this country and commit to it, that’s not a monoculture,” Mr Taylor said.
“But it is requiring that people adopt Australian values. They are not welcome if they’re not prepared to do that. Now, you can call that whatever you like, but I just think that’s common sense.
“It is a version of multiculturalism, but I tell you, what I’m talking about, it is not Labor’s multiculturalism where they simply say anyone can come here with any culture and it’s all OK.”
Mr Taylor said “magnificent people” had come to Australia from Italy, Greece and “all over the world”, but they had adopted Australian values “even though they were still eating their food and wearing their clothes and all of those things from the place they’d come from”.
“That’s the Australia we believe in,” he said.
“If someone comes here with ISIS culture, Islamic State culture. No. No. That’s exactly why we ended up with what we had at Bondi at the end of last year.”
People migrating to Australia are required to sign an “Australian Values Statement” that they will obey Australia’s laws, respect individual freedoms, respect democracy and a “fair go” for all that embraces tolerance and equality of opportunity, and for permanent residents to make “reasonable efforts” to learn English.
The Coalition wants to make adhering to that statement a visa condition, strengthening the grounds on which people can be deported for failing the character test.
The Liberal Party has also called for deeper cuts to migration levels and enhanced applicant screening, although they have not formally committed to a position held by One Nation to ban migration from nations “known to foster extremist ideologies”.
One Nation has called for the end of multiculturalism, deep cuts to migration, and immigration bans on certain countries. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
After Senator Hanson told Channel 7 she had not spoken to Mr Taylor since 2019, the opposition leader also said the One Nation leader had been invited.
“I have offered to meet her, and she has not taken it up. She has that offer, she has my number, she knows where my office is, my door is always open,” Mr Taylor said.
“All you can do is lead a horse to water, you can’t make the horse drink … the door is always open, and in fact, the context within which I made that offer was to talk about how we oppose these toxic taxes of Labor’s, to work together to try and bring them down.”
As One Nation has surged past the Coalition in several polls, conversations have turned to how the parties would negotiate decisions on vote-preferencing at an election or potential power-sharing agreements.
