Labor leader wants major parties to ‘form a ring’ to stop ‘crazy extremists’ at the next election

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has called for an end to “dog whistling by political leaders about immigration and asylum seekers” and for the major parties to “form a ring, a bond” to stop “the crazy extremists from getting oxygen, both by our commentary and by our preferences at the next election”.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said the Liberal party will not make any preference deals with One Nation, the party which spawned Fraser Anning and cleared the way for the far-right Queensland senator’s election to the parliament, but has not answered where the Pauline Hanson party would sit on any future election ticket.

But Shorten, picking up from Morrison’s speech on Monday, where he denounced racism while imploring for an end to “tribalism” and the “us and them” mentality, asked the prime minister to go further.

“I will recommend, and the Labor party agrees with me, that we will always preference the Liberals and the Nationals ahead of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party and the other senator,” Shorten said.

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“I get that the current prime minister doesn’t want Labor to win, that’s his opinion, we don’t want them to win.

“This nation, though, has to work together much more than we are. And it’s not just fine words.

“It’s actions that count. And I invite the government – it will be up to them to see if they have the courage of their convictions, but Liberal and Labor, the Nationals and the Greens, we’ve got to form a ring, a bond, which stops the crazy extremists from getting oxygen both by our commentary and by our preferences at the next election.”

The Christchurch terror attack has forced a spotlight on Australia’s political debate, and the language used in political discourse, and the media.

Lowering the nation’s permanent migration cap, currently set at 190,000, has been an ongoing discussion within the government, with numbers already well down from the established ceiling.

Last year, permanent arrivals hit their lowest number for a decade, with the government accepting just over 162,000.

Morrison, who is expected to make an announcement on the formal decision imminently, pleaded for the debate to be carried out sensibly, on Monday, asking it not be “hijacked” by critics seeking to assign “racial hatred” as the motivation for “supporting moderated immigration”.

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Shorten said any future debate had to take into account the Christchurch massacre, and the reasons it had been carried out. “And let’s be clear – that wasn’t done by a refugee,” he said.

“The dog whistling by political leaders about immigration and asylum seekers must stop.”

“Well, the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. So I repeat, as leader of the Labor party, one of the two parties who can form a government in this country, dog whistling about immigration and asylum seekers needs to stop, and it needs to stop because the crazies, the extremists, they take comfort when there is approval given to go down this slippery path of starting to bag immigration.”

Shorten said he was open to a discussion on what Australia’s permanent immigration cap should be, but said political parties all needed to take more care.

The Labor leader then beseeched the mainstream media to do more. “Guys, you’re in the media. You’re actually not just reporters of what politicians say – you’ve all got your views and values. The Australian people have.

“We all know that for a number of years, the slow slide into the sleazy attacks on minorities, the dog whistling, we know it’s been happening.

“I’m calling it out. I want all of you to call it out, too. Because this country can’t work together unless we actually start working together.”