The Senate has passed a motion celebrating the death of the White Australia Policy, as politicians from both sides united to condemn a speech by Queensland crossbencher Fraser Anning.

Senator Anning sparked near-universal outrage in the parliament on Tuesday evening when he used his maiden speech to praise the historical policy and advocate a ban on Muslim immigration.

A Senate motion praising the former Liberal government of Harold Holt for dismantling the policy “with bipartisan support” passed without opposition.

SBS News understands Senator Anning was not in the chamber for the vote.

Hard to imagine a more powerful symbol in our parliament - applause from both sides as Prime Minister @TurnbullMalcolm and Opposition Leader @billshortenmp shake hands - having both condemned and rejected Senator Fraser Anning's maiden speech #auspol @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/d0AOP9KqWc — Brett Mason (@BrettMasonNews) August 15, 2018

The motion was a near-copy of a similar motion put by Labor prime minister Bob Hawke in 1988.

It supports a “racially non-discriminatory immigration policy” and says the government should never consider “race or ethnic origin” when determining who is allowed to come to Australia.

The modern 2018 version added the word “faith” to the clause in an implicit rebuke of Senator Anning’s calls to ban immigrants who follow Islam.

The exact same motion was brought to the House of Representatives and is expected to easily pass.

“The White Australia Policy was abolished by my predecessor as prime minister and liberal leader, Harold Holt,” prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Wednesday.

There was applause around the chamber when opposition leader Bill Shorten reached across and shook the prime minister’s hand, after dozens of MPs and senators rose to speak on the motion.

“When you say that you don't want people of a certain religion in this country, you can pretend it's whatever it is, it's just racism,” Mr Shorten said.

“We are not being swamped by Muslims in this country.”

There were passionate speeches from parliamentarians with immigrant backgrounds, from the government’s finance minister Mathias Cormann to Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong.

“Think of what might be happening in some of the school yards in Australia today,” Senator Wong said in the chamber.

“Because those of us who've been on the receiving end of racism know what it feels like, and know what leaders say matters.”

0:00 00:00 / 00:00 Share Share on Twitter

Share on Facebook

Senator Anning is a member of the Katter’s Australia Party. He defected from One Nation on his first day in office.

Party leader Bob Katter is expected to address the media early on Wednesday afternoon.

Senator Anning has refused to apologise for his remarks and denied his calls for a “final solution to the immigration problem” were a veiled reference to Nazi Germany’s infamous attempt to genocide the Jewish people of occupied Europe in World War Two.

“It was two words used,” Senator Anning told reporters.

“It's the thought police. You think it was an inflammatory comment.”

Greens wanted to go further, slam Labor for 'siding with Anning'

The Greens proposed an additional motion to formally censure the senator over his remarks.

But Labor sided with the government to reject the proposal, reasoning that it did not want the parliament to make Senator Anning a "victim".

"We have no intention of making Fraser Anning a victim. We have the absolute intention of both condemning this remarks and of taking on his arguments because they are wrong," Senator Wong said.

"I think today what the Senate has shown is that the best way to deal with division is to come together. The best way to deal with prejudice is to assert acceptance and tolerance. The best way to deal with people going low is to go high."

Greens leader Richard Di Natale said "hand-wringing and condemnation" was not enough.

"It’s incredibly disappointing that the two old parties have sided with Anning, blocking discussion of a move that would officially censure his inflammatory remarks," Senator Di Natale wrote in a statement.

0:00 00:00 / 00:00 Share Share on Twitter

Share on Facebook

Energy and environment minister Josh Frydenberg, who has Hungarian heritage, said Senator Anning should retract his comments and "go and visit a Holocaust museum".

"Like a number of colleagues in this place I have relatives who went through the Holocaust," Mr Frydenberg told reporters at Parliament House on Wednesday morning.

"His comment about the final solution to immigration was insensitive, was ignorant, was divisive and was hurtful."

Labor frontbencher Tony Burke blasted the speech in parliament on Tuesday evening.

“There has to be a point when this parliament says enough. If we haven't reached that point tonight then for some of us there is apparently no limit at all,” Labor frontbencher Tony Burke said.

“Senator Anning has just delivered his first speech and, in delivering the sort of bile that we get from time to time against Muslim Australians, decided to invoke the term 'final solution'—another speech belittling Australians, dividing the nation and inciting debate.”

The Turnbull government’s citizenship minister Alan Tudge said the speech "did not reflect the views of the government nor the views of fair minded Australians”.

“We will always maintain a non-discriminatory immigration program,” he said.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said her former colleague "went too far" and said she did not support his remarks. Senator Anning quit the party on his first day in office despite being elected by One Nation voters.