Minister’s remarkable moment shows what’s possible. We need so much more of it

There was something quietly remarkable about a moment in question time this week. It was subtle, so subtle it was largely missed.

But in response to obvious racial dog whistling from the Coalition, a Labor minister explicitly called it out.

In response to the LNP MP Henry Pike, who is part of Queensland’s uber-conservative faction, who asked whether it was true 51,000 non-citizens had accessed the help-to-buy scheme, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil actually addressed the substantive issue:

“The member opposite asks about the role of migrants in this. Let me be really clear: Temporary migrants to Australia are not eligible for this program. I just want to be really clear for the parliament about who is eligible: Australian citizens and permanent residents of our country.

“I don’t want to be personal about the honourable member opposite, because I understand how tactics committees work, and I understand how that piece of paper ended up in his hands. But I just want to be really clear for Australians: Permanent residents are not the cause of the challenges facing our country on housing, and any attempt to assert that they are is wrong. Those opposite can continue racing to the bottom against One Nation. But I’ll tell you what: You can’t ‘out-One Nation’ One Nation. You’re never going to be Pauline Hanson. I think it’s time that you accept it.

“I think we’ve clarified here that the people that the member opposite is talking about are permanent residents of our country. So let me say again that those opposite can point the finger and blame the problems facing our country on permanent residents. That is not the position of those of us on this side of the chamber. What we see is communities of people, many of whom have lived in our country for decades, who have paid into our healthcare system and who have paid into our aged-care system. You know who’s got the problem here? It’s those opposite, who want to take away the ability for these people to live as they should in our country.

“I want people to understand, especially our loved Chinese communities and our loved Indian communities around Australia, that what those opposite are talking about is a group of people who might have lived here for 30 years, and they are saying that they should not be eligible for aged care in our country.

“I want to just say one more thing, and then I’m going to come back to housing. Those opposite need to learn that what’s heard in this chamber is not just heard in the electorate of Farrer. It’s heard in the electorate of Chisholm. It’s heard in the electorate of Hotham. It’s heard in the electorate of Reid. I’d encourage them to be honest with the Australian people about where the challenges facing our country come from.”

O’Neil was right to call it out. What was remarkable is that she did.

While there have been louder defences of Australia’s multicultural communities by the government, especially after Angus Taylor’s explicit One Nation pivot, it’s mostly been on Labor’s terms. It’s happened when Labor has set up the question, or part of a speech or press conference designed to compare and contrast Labor support for multiculturalism and defence of marginalised communities, with the Coalition’s dog whistling.

But on Thursday, O’Neil called out Pike for what he was so clearly doing – attempting to further entrench the us and them divide the Coalition sees as its way back to relevancy, having watched One Nation ride 30 years of racism to the top of the polls.

One Nation is guiding much of Australia’s current political response. The government’s decision to make structural changes to the tax system to create a more equal housing playing field didn’t come from a sudden change of heart, but in response to growing public support for One Nation.

This hasn’t happened in a vacuum. The most recent general social survey released last month has shown a decline in support for multiculturalism. It’s still the vast majority – 75 per cent of respondents agreed that multiculturalism was good for society, but that number has dropped 10 per cent from 2020.

Discrimination and xenophobia have been rising for years. It’s not enough for the government to not engage in racial baiting politics, it has to be anti it. That’s been lacking.

When asking Labor MPs why they don’t defend the line, they all have variations of the same answer – they don’t want to create a backlash, or give right-wing media something to take out of context. Which again, is allowing those enriching themselves by engaging in the worst of identity politics to frame the entire debate.

It’s a positive step to see government MPs take some steps into addressing the giant schisms in society, but they still seem hesitant.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong told a Senate estimates committee that she believes the Australian women who have reported being abused, physically, psychologically and sexually, by Israeli forces, but it was only under questioning from independent senator David Pocock that DFAT admitted it had not pushed Israel for an independent investigation. And didn’t really have plans to.

That follows the pattern of this Labor government having to be pushed to see reality – the most recent Pew Research Centre into global views about Israel found 74 per cent of Australians had an unfavourable view. 72 per cent of Australians did not have confidence Israeli leader Benjamin Netenyahu would “do the right thing” regarding world affairs.

Some of the horror at Israel’s actions is coming through – Wong announced sanctions against Israeli settlers recently, but still shied away at having those sanctions applied at a government level, despite the Knesset ruling class’s obvious support for Israelis stealing Palestinian land at gunpoint.

The scrutiny of One Nation will lead to revealing its shallowness – Barnaby Joyce’s most recent interview about his party’s housing policy on Sky News is evidence of that, and Hanson’s appearance at the National Press Club later this month will no doubt be a train wreck.

But if Labor assumes people will care about the hypocrisy or lack of detail when it comes to supporting disruptors, then it deserves to lose the fight. Showing people things can be better through action, reform, and responding to actual needs, rather than political expedience is a proven way through this. It shouldn’t take the rise of a far-right party to show a self proclaimed centre-left government the way.