Senator Wong is just Wrong - Senator Cash Gold Star: TAKE II -
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Hansard out:
MTF...P2
PS As of 23 hours after putting the above video on Aunty Pru's YouTube channel, there has now been over 52k views, 3.1k likes and 1.4k of comments, which are overwhelmingly positive for the debate contributions of both Senator Price and Senator Cash...

Previous:
(07-24-2025, 09:37 PM)Peetwo Wrote: Via the APH today...![]()
Hansard out:
Quote:Senator McCARTHY (Northern Territory—Minister for Indigenous Australians) (15:03): I seek leave to make a statement of no more than five minutes.
Leave granted.
Senator McCARTHY: I speak today as a Yanyuwa Garrwa woman. We are known as li-Anthawirriyarra, which means our spiritual origin comes from the sea country and we talk from the heart. I also speak today as a proud First Nations member of this parliament, on behalf of and alongside my colleagues Senator Jana Stewart; Senator Dorinda Cox; Special Envoy Marion Scrymgour; the member for Robertson, Dr Gordon Reid; and the member for Leichhardt, Matt Smith. I speak today as a visitor to Ngunnawal country, welcomed beautifully this week by Aunty Violet Sheridan. I speak to the Senate about respect.
This week, the first week of the 48th Parliament, we've seen deliberate acts of disrespect in the Senate from One Nation senators. We've seen those senators come into the chamber for the acknowledgement of country, a longstanding part of the Senate Order of Business, purely to pull an incredibly childish and very hurtful stunt of turning their backs on that proceeding. These senators aren't required to be in the Senate for the acknowledgement of country; in fact, they haven't attended in the past. But they do now. Whether it is for attention or for clickbait, whether it is to cause offence or to stoke division, these senators have made a deliberate decision to disrespect First Nations Australians.
You'd think they would have learnt lessons from the election. You'd think they would have heard the clear message from the Australian people in May. The politics of culture wars were rejected. The politics of disrespect and nastiness were rejected. The politics of punching down on First Nations people were rejected. We just had three years of people in this place trying to do the opposite of that—attacking welcomes to country, attacking acknowledgements of country, trash-talking First Nations communities and representatives and undermining efforts to show respect for First Nations Australians. The Australian people made their rejection of that division and cynicism very, very clear.
Our government is committed to a different way of operating. We listen to people and treat them with respect, even when we do not agree with them. We won't be swayed by the gales of divisive culture wars wherever it comes from. Our government knows that the key to our success regarding First Nations people, and on all issues, is an approach of respect, listening, and approaching with a mind open to the truths of the past. Our government doesn't attack First Nations Australians but recognises them. We see them. We hear them. Our government will continue to listen to the people, from Fitzroy to Fitzroy Crossing, who have been here for countless generations—the longest continuing culture on earth. Our government engages with First Nations peoples, seeks the benefit of their experiences to build on the success of this country as a whole. Our government acknowledges them and their dignity, and that's what an acknowledgement of country is about.
As the Prime Minister put it on Monday, it is a respectful way for us to begin our deliberations here in Canberra which, of course, means 'meeting place'. It is a reminder as well that, while we all belong here together, we are stronger together and we belong. What a welcome to country does is hold out, like a hand warmly and graciously extended, an opportunity for us to embrace and to show a profound love of home and country.
I urge those senators, in particular the new senators, to take a moment to think about how important it is and how precious it is to stand here as a senator in this Senate representing your state and, indeed, representing all Australians including First Nations people. Respect and acknowledgement go both ways. I urge all senators to remember who you work beside and who you walk with. Even when we disagree, we have a chamber here where we can discuss things in a manner that is far more respectful than we've seen in these previous days.
Senator HANSON (Queensland—Leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation and Pauline Hanson's One Nation Whip) (15:08): I seek leave to make a short statement of no more than five minutes.
Leave granted.
Senator HANSON: Senator McCarthy and the other members of the First Nations caucus, as you call yourselves, I do understand and respect that you are asking for respect as Australians. All One Nation, and the rest of the Australian people, wants is the same respect back—that is, that we are still part of this nation, that we are people who are born here and people who have migrated here. We also want acknowledgement and respect of this nation. To be constantly told, 'This is not your land,' or 'Always was, always will be Aboriginal land,' you are disenfranchising me and many other Australians.
The welcome to country was not culture or tradition; it was actually introduced into Australia by Ernie Dingo in the seventies in relation to New Zealand having the haka. Welcome to country has not been a tradition of this parliament and was only introduced in the last few years. This is not a stunt that I've pulled just this week. I have turned my back on it for the past three years. I am acknowledging the Australian people who voted against the Voice. They don't want the division that is happening in our country. They are fed up with welcome to country. They want to see an end to it. People don't want to arrive on a plane in every state across this nation and get a welcome to country. They don't want this division.
We have seen land handed back. We've seen Australians stopped from going to certain places in this country because they are not welcome there. This is their land. They can't go to Mount Warning or the Grampians. They can't go to certain parts. They can't do the things that every Australian should be entitled to. We are treated totally differently in many areas.
I understand the demise of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I've visited their communities. I've spoken to them. You haven't got the support of every Aboriginal for welcome to country. A lot of them out there have contacted me and said: 'We are over it as well. We don't want this division in our nation.' It's a stance that I've taken to speak up on behalf of those Australian people who don't want this division.
I don't want to have to do this, but the fact is that I am actually speaking up on behalf of the people who don't know how else to protest this. It's dividing us as a nation and as a people. I've said this right from the very beginning, when I came into parliament in 1996. My first statement was on equality for all Australians. But we're being treated totally differently. It doesn't matter whether it's education, jobs, welfare—whatever it is. There is no definition of Aboriginality. A lot of people claim to be an Aboriginal of this nation when they're not, because they can just say it. That needs to change.
As I've said before, and I will say it again, when you recognise and respect us and say that we accept you as our equals in this nation, that we are all Australians together—I never hear it. What protest do you hear when the Australian flag is burnt in protest? Why should that be allowed? That is not right. I've seen protests from Aboriginal people. I've seen the racism that has been thrown at me. I dare to raise issues and call for equality—so I'm supposedly the racist in this nation because I question things. That's not racism. Racism means that you believe your race to be superior to another. I have never ever indicated that at all. I question. All I have ever questioned is equality for all Australians, and I will stand by that.
I am the one who has gone to these communities and come back to see the minister for aboriginal affairs. I have advocated for jobs for the people at Uluru, Ayers Rock. I have advocated for housing up in North Queensland, at Bamaga. I have advocated for a lot of issues to do with Aboriginal people and the corruption that is going on within these communities—land councils and everything like that. I've advocated for these people. A lot of Aboriginals come to me— (Time expired)
Senator WATERS (Queensland—Leader of the Australian Greens) (15:13): I seek leave to make a statement of no more than five minutes.
The PRESIDENT: Leave is granted.
Senator WATERS: Well it's a bit rich to get a lecture on First Nations culture from the likes of Senator Pauline Hanson. It's also a bit rich to get a lecture about not wanting division from the likes of Pauline Hanson's One Nation. She seems entirely blind to her own privilege. It is not welcomes to country and acknowledgements of country that are dividing this nation; it is racism.
I stand in support of the statement made by Senator McCarthy—eloquently spoken, as always—and I note that we stand here on Ngunnawal and Ngambri land, over which sovereignty was never ceded, and that we should all take pride in the longest continuing culture on the planet and that that is a source of strength for all of us. It enriches all Australians.
I am pleased that we have an acknowledgment of country incorporated into our morning parliamentary processes, and I want to acknowledge that it took many years of many good people pushing for that before this chamber, as a whole, agreed to do that. That was a moment that made us all bigger, and I am proud of that moment.
I am also pleased that, after the discussion of respect in this chamber yesterday, this issue of the Pauline Hanson's One Nation senators turning their backs on an acknowledgement has been raised in that context. I note that it's not a censure motion, but I acknowledge that it was a respectful contribution made by Senator Malarndirri McCarthy.
I would like to finish by saying that the Greens are looking forward to working on issues to genuinely close the gap and looking forward to working on issues of the over-incarceration of First Nations people and the continued shameful record of Aboriginal deaths in custody, over which a really important royal commission report was drafted and has, sadly, gathered dust for far too long.
Senator NAMPIJINPA PRICE (Northern Territory) (15:16): I seek leave to make a short statement.
Leave granted.
Senator NAMPIJINPA PRICE: What concerns me, as an Indigenous Australian, as a member of this parliament, as to the issues that we are talking about right now, is the ideological way in which Indigenous Australians are objectified—and I mean, in such a way that we are used as a political token for political pointscoring. The idea of welcome to country has become exactly that.
Senator Hanson is correct to say that welcome to country is not traditional culture. It isn't. And what we do need to recognise is—and it is important for all of us, as leaders of this nation, to recognise—the reinvention of culture, which diminishes traditional culture.
For those who still live close to traditional culture, within cultural confines, their day-to-day lives are dictated by it. They speak their language. They are often spoken about in very romanticised terms. And the use of acknowledgements really does absolutely nothing to improve their lives and has done nothing to improve their lives.
To be quite honest, as a woman of Indigenous heritage but, first and foremost, as an Australian, I am absolutely done with the virtue signalling that takes place. I am of the belief that it is not necessary to have an acknowledgement, because we are all Australians. Every single one of us—including the Ngunnawal and the Ngambri—is Australian. We are here to serve all Australians equally in this country, not to praise or acknowledge one group above others. Truly, I don't think you really want to acknowledge my existence because of my indigeneity more than anybody else's. I am equal to you and to everybody else here and to everybody in this country.
So this is the main issue at heart. It's not standing up as a person of Indigenous heritage to say how we do things differently. We are people; we are human beings. We need to stop the infantilisation of who we are as a group of people, as though we're somehow different. We are not different. We are the same. We are Australian. And that is the sentiment that we need more of in this chamber, in this building and more broadly across this country, because it's no wonder our children are afraid to be proud to call themselves Australian.
I understand the significance of the conduct of One Nation, perhaps towards the chamber, towards the President. I acknowledge that. But, more broadly, when it comes to this concept of acknowledgment of country—'First Nations' isn't even Australian terminology, for crying out loud! It's been adopted from Canada, from America. It's just reinvention, which is actually belittling and watering down traditional culture and what it's really about.
But we can ignore traditional culture in this chamber—there are elements of it that every single one of you across from me ignore—because it's detrimental to the most marginalised in remote communities. If you speak up against it, if you mention it, you are painted as a racist or somebody who is a coconut or somebody who is a traitor. Imagine if we treated every single racial group in this manner in this country—it's horrendous.
It begins with virtue signalling—the politicisation of a group of people in this country, because of our racial heritage. And I'm sick to death of it, as a woman, as a mother, as a soon-to-be grandmother and as an Australian of proud heritage, whether it's my convict ancestors or my Warlpiri ancestors. I'm proud of it all, and we should all be. We should all encourage that in Australia in 2025.
Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (15:21): by leave—Senator Hanson speaks of division, but it is she who peddles division. Senator Hanson speaks of respect, but it is she who peddles disrespect. Senator Hanson, I listened carefully to what you had to say, and I would say this to you: you do not have to agree with the tradition of acknowledging country. I disagree with you—I think the majority of the chamber disagrees with you—but you do not have to agree with it. But it is part of the rituals and traditions of this chamber, and, as a senator, I think you should respect it. I think you should respect it.
Now, I also listened to the contribution just gone, and, I have to say, I was heartened to see the Leader of the Opposition, Ms Ley, attend the welcome to country at the opening of the parliament and state, at that opening, her respect and appreciation for Aunty Violet's welcome. Ms Ley said this:
May it set the tone as we recommit ourselves to the taking of practical action to improve lives and expand opportunities for Indigenous Australians in every part of our great country.
I would hope that the opposition would reflect on the words of their own leader in relation to welcomes to country.
There's been a lot said about what this chamber is, what this house is. It is a house for all Australians. It is. And it is a house that represents our history and our multicultural diversity, as well as the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the oldest in the world. I would end on this: decency and respect cost us nothing, but they go a long way to building a sense of unity. And, if you want to see what grace and respect look like, perhaps remember what Senator McCarthy said just a few moments ago. I don't intend to grant leave for any further statements, given the number—
Senator CASH (Western Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (15:24): Then I will ask for it and it can be denied. I seek leave to make a short statement no longer than Senator Wong's.
Leave granted.
Senator CASH: With all due respect, I did not want to make a statement in this place. I actually thought Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Senator Pauline Hanson and Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price each expressed their opinion in relation to this matter well. Their tone respected the chamber. Their words did not seek to diminish anybody else. Their opinions were heartfelt, and they were their opinions.
Each person is allowed to come into this chamber and hold an opinion. The turning of the back—I've spoken to Pauline Hanson about that; she knows my opinion. She accepts what I have said in relation to that. But let me tell you Senator Hanson has every right to hold her opinion in relation to what happens at the beginning of this chamber, and she is right. She is right. When I first came to this place, it was prayers; it was not a welcome to country. But I can tell you: do not ever demean anybody. Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price—her mother's story; Bess Price. I suggest you all read it. A woman walking through the desert was her mother, who had her baby between her legs under a tree. She picked up her baby, she cut the umbilical cord and she kept walking. I suggest you read the story of Bess Price before you ever come in here and cast aspersions or tell us, Senator Wong, to respect other words. I will stand by and respect Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who every day has lived and breathed reconciliation in this country. Her father is white; her mother is black. So please don't ever come into this place again and pontificate to us like you've just done.
The PRESIDENT: Thank you, senators. If there are no other contributions, I intend to move on.
MTF...P2

PS As of 23 hours after putting the above video on Aunty Pru's YouTube channel, there has now been over 52k views, 3.1k likes and 1.4k of comments, which are overwhelmingly positive for the debate contributions of both Senator Price and Senator Cash...
