Andrew Hastie claims multiculturalism is an ‘extreme’ and ‘politically loaded’ word
Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie has claimed multiculturalism is “now a politically loaded term” that is as “extreme” as the word “monoculture”.
Despite declaring “war” on One Nation, Hastie promoted a similar approach to immigration to the rightwing party’s leader, Pauline Hanson, during an interview with the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program today.
The Liberals have struggled to define their position on multiculturalism and immigration as they attempt to stem the loss of votes to Hanson’s party.
Earlier this month, Hanson used her first speech at the National Press Club in Canberra to declare Australia cannot be multicultural and must exist as a “monocultural society”.
Asked by the ABC today about his views, Hastie said:
Monoculture and multicultural, they’re two extremes in a sense.
[Multicultural] is now a loaded political term.
Most Australians, when they talk about multicultural, think, you know, different foods, different backgrounds.
He added:
In the end, if a democracy’s going to function, you have to have a common set of values.
It can’t just be a free for all, [living] according to how you think the world should be.
Hastie refused to define One Nation as “hard right” and said he wanted to win back its voters who had defected from the Coalition, rather than alienating them. He said:
People are drawn to strength, and so I think we should be sending a strong message that we are committed to winning government [and] delivering centre right government for the Australian people.
You can read more here:
Key events
Liberal defector Hollie Hughes won’t rule out return to politics with One Nation
Liberal defector Hollie Hughes may be plotting a political comeback after joining One Nation.
Hughes, a former Liberal senator for New South Wales, did not rule out another run for parliament when she was asked by the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program today if she still harboured political aspirations.
Hughes resigned from the Liberal party late last year after losing her Senate seat amid a preselection battle.
On her way out the door, Hughes publicly criticised the then shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, saying he did not have enough economic policies and was partly responsible for the Coalition’s crushing election loss.
Asked by the ABC today if she was thinking of running for parliament at the next election “under the One Nation banner”, Hughes said:
Oh, look, you never say never.
I am interested, but I don’t know what it looks like, and unfortunately, no big announcement from me: not today, but not never.
Hughes said she left the Liberals because she felt the party “had lost its soul”.
She said her turning point came when her then colleagues didn’t support Pauline Hanson’s bill to give palliative care to babies that were “born alive” during “failed” abortions, and that:
It was just a profound movement in the value of life that I thought the Liberal party supported, and that was a demonstration to me [that] we didn’t share the same values any more.
Hughes also claimed that Hanson had been “misquoted” when she suggested parents taking time off work to care for newborn babies should not have their wages paid by employers and parental leave was the reason for the gender pay gap.
Andrew Hastie claims multiculturalism is an ‘extreme’ and ‘politically loaded’ word
Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie has claimed multiculturalism is “now a politically loaded term” that is as “extreme” as the word “monoculture”.
Despite declaring “war” on One Nation, Hastie promoted a similar approach to immigration to the rightwing party’s leader, Pauline Hanson, during an interview with the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program today.
The Liberals have struggled to define their position on multiculturalism and immigration as they attempt to stem the loss of votes to Hanson’s party.
Earlier this month, Hanson used her first speech at the National Press Club in Canberra to declare Australia cannot be multicultural and must exist as a “monocultural society”.
Asked by the ABC today about his views, Hastie said:
Monoculture and multicultural, they’re two extremes in a sense.
[Multicultural] is now a loaded political term.
Most Australians, when they talk about multicultural, think, you know, different foods, different backgrounds.
He added:
In the end, if a democracy’s going to function, you have to have a common set of values.
It can’t just be a free for all, [living] according to how you think the world should be.
Hastie refused to define One Nation as “hard right” and said he wanted to win back its voters who had defected from the Coalition, rather than alienating them. He said:
People are drawn to strength, and so I think we should be sending a strong message that we are committed to winning government [and] delivering centre right government for the Australian people.
You can read more here:
Andrew Messenger
Indigenous words stripped from Queensland state electorates after redistribution
The names of prominent Queenslanders and Indigenous words have been stripped from 19 state electorates.
The Queensland Redistribution Commission handed down its final redistribution of the state’s electorates this afternoon.
It adopted most suggestions of the Liberal National party’s submission about boundary changes, which are expected to slightly advantage the party at the 2028 election.
Rising Labor star Meaghan Scanlon may struggle to hold her Gold Coast seat, which has been heavily redistricted in the changes.
The commission took up an LNP recommendation to revert to almost purely geographic names for electorates, reversing a decision from 2017 to name 11 after prominent Queenslanders.
The commission said:
We are of the view that voter recognition of an electorate’s location is essential.
Electorate names which do not identify or suggest the location of an electorate are apt to cause unnecessary confusion.
Electorates named for Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, suffragette and unionist Emma Miller, Queensland’s first female doctor, Lilian Cooper, the Indigenous name for the Brisbane river Maiwar, and Mary McConnel, the founder of the state’s first children’s hospital in 1878, will all change to suburb names.
An electorate named for former National premier Frank Nicklin will also be renamed as will an electorate for Labor MP Vi Jordan and former premier Arthur Macalister.
One name will remain though: the electoral district of Cook will continue to be named for Captain James Cook.
You can read more here:
Man charged with domestic violence murder after woman’s death in eastern Sydney in 2024
New South Wales police say they have charged a man with domestic violence-related murder in relation to a woman’s death in eastern Sydney more than 18 months ago.
Police said emergency services found the 66-year-old woman’s body at a property on Astoria Circuit in Maroubra on 18 November 2024.
At the time, officers from the Eastern Beaches area command and the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad established Strike Force Nain to investigate the incident.
This afternoon, police announced they had arrested a 52-year-old man in relation to the alleged incident.
After arresting the man about 8.30am this morning at a property on Pennant Hills Road in West Pennant Hills, police said they took him to Castle Hill police station where he was charged with murder (DV).
He was refused bail to appear before Parramatta local court today.
Catie McLeod
Hi, I hope you’ve had a lovely Monday so far. I’ll be with you on the blog for the rest of the day.
Krishani Dhanji
Thank you all for joining me on the blog today!
I’ll leave you with the great Catie McLeod for the rest of the afternoon and see you back here bright and early tomorrow.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
-
Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh found herself as Labor’s punching bag in QT today, after she suggested to Sky News her party should “rebrand” following a raft of poor polling.
-
The Liberals tried to corner housing minister, Clare O’Neil over how many first home owners owe more now than when they bought with cooling house prices.
-
The crossbench pushed the government over its digital duty of care bill, and how far it would go to prevent future harms online.
-
Two Labor MPs were yeeted by Milton Dick today, but no Coalition MPs faced the boot.
-
The PM and Angus Taylor gave a shoutout to the Socceroos after the end of QT, giving the opposition leader a chance to own his famous “well done Angus” gaffe.
Tory Shepherd
Lowy family target of thousands of online attacks
The prominent Lowy family has been subjected to more than 15,000 serious online attacks, former Westfield co-chief executive Steve Lowy has told the antisemitism royal commission.
The Lowy Family Group has its own security team to monitor threats.
Of the 15,000 attacks, the team identified 200 “persons of interest” and referred “in the order of” 30 or 40 to police.
The commission was shown examples of Steve Lowy, his wife, Judy Lowy, and his father, Frank Lowy – a Holocaust survivor – being targeted.
The examples included death threats, calls for Frank Lowy and others to be executed, and antisemitic tropes and memes.
“They could lead to violence, physical violence,” Steve Lowy said:
I have a firm belief that these online threats lead to or inspire others to do … violent physical activity. Online is more about gathering this information on a regular basis. But on the physical side of things, one needs to be diligent all of the time, which causes enormous psychological issues.
He also said social media should be subject to the same laws as traditional media, where they would be subject to prosecution.
Albanese and Taylor praise Socceroos as question time ends: ‘Fantastic, great work’
After a final dixer to small business minister Anne Aly, Anthony Albanese calls time on QT.
On indulgence, the PM talks about how good the Socceroos are.
He says the team represents the “strength, diversity, and unity” of modern Australia.
Of course, in the current climate, he makes a point about how multicultural the team is (and throws in a cheer for SBS who are broadcasting the World Cup).
They are humble, they are determined, and they are so proud to be wearing the green and gold. This is a team that can trace their heritage to every corner of the world.
Angus Taylor associates his remarks with the PM and adds:
So to the Socceroos, I say, fantastic, great work. Well done.
(A reference of course, to his famous “well done Angus” tweet).
‘There’s no jobs on a dead river’: Labor defends Murray Darling Basin plan
One Nation MP David Farley has the call next and asks the government to request the commonwealth environmental water holder to urgently assess if the current objectives through the additional water buy-backs have been met under the Murray Darling Basin plan, and if so, then all surplus water be returned to farmers.
Tony Burke, representing the environment minister, gives an impassioned defence of the basin plan and says the government doesn’t get involved in selling back surplus water.
He adds “there’s no jobs on a dead river”.
The concept of surplus water not being used to keep the basin healthy is not something that the government does. The water that is there is to make sure that we still have a living river system, because there are no jobs on a dead river.
The whole reason we had to have that reform is because when the rivers were dying, the jobs and the towns were going too.
Under pressure on house prices, O’Neil says opposition ‘uselessly defending status quo’
Clare O’Neil is still in the opposition’s sights, with the Nationals frontbencher Anne Webster now asking the housing minister to reveal how many first home owners owe more money than their home is worth.
O’Neil says it’s a variation on a question she’s been asked multiple times, and says “I’m not changing my answer”.
She tries to deflect, and attacks the opposition.
Yet another question time when those opposite come into question time again and again, uselessly defending a status quo that every other person in our country can see is broken.
Manager of opposition business Dan Tehan is up again making a point of order, and tries to quote the “wise words” of the Speaker Milton Dick to get O’Neil to answer the question and stop talking about the opposition.
Dick tells Tehan “good try” and directs O’Neil to stop talking about the Coalition.
O’Neil then spruiks the government’s housing policy (which again Tehan tries to argue is not answering the question), so Dick tells her to just wrap up.
She says:
I’m making the point to the parliament someone here has to stand up for first home buyers and that’s exactly what Labor did on Thursday.
Anika Wells says ‘we need to hold [tech platforms] to account’
Will the government commit to a digital duty of care that includes an “overarching duty” so tech companies have to address future harms, asks independent MP Kate Chaney.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, says the digital duty of care reforms are meant to do two things – make big tech prevent harm and psychosocial harm to their users, and ensuring safety by design.
She says the first point goes to Chaney’s question of an overarching duty.
Wells says she looks forward to continuing to work with Chaney on the issue in the second half of this year.
Safety by design … is switching the onus from, at the moment, them being able to do basically what they like in an unregulated space, the harm occurring, and then avenues to people who have been harmed through things like eSafety to big tech needing to do safety by design.
We need to hold them [platforms] to account, to continue to work together in a bipartisan measure, I do think we address that, but I look forward to working with you on digital duty of care in the sector in the second half of this year.
Second Labor MP booted from QT: ‘You won’t get away with anything in this chamber!’
Dan Tehan tries a third time to grill Clare O’Neil on her claims last week that Australia is experiencing a house price “correction”.
Jim Chalmers had to intervene last week and said O’Neil was referring to a correction generally, and not based on the economic definition.
Tehan tries again to ask how many first home buyers “owe more money than their home is worth” as the market cools.
O’Neil starts her answer talking about why the legislation is good, but doesn’t actually address the question about negative equity.
Before she can get much further, Milton Dick kicks out Labor backbencher Mike Freelander for being disruptive, warning the House “you won’t get away with anything in this chamber!”
Tehan then tries to raise a point of order on relevance, but Dick reckons O’Neil is being relevant and allows her to continue.
She says:
I’m talking about the treasure write modelling that supported the tax changes in the budget, that show over time house prices in Australia will continue to increase, just a little bit more slowly than they otherwise would have. We’re talking about two percentage points difference.
O’Neil refuses to engage on ‘utterly incorrect’ housing question
The Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie is next and asks how many first home buyers will be facing negative equity, if the housing minister’s prediction of prices dropping 20% comes to fruition.
Clare O’Neil gives her shortest answer yet:
The premise of the question is factually and utterly incorrect.
McIntosh’s Liberal ‘rebrand’ call gets a heavy workout in QT
It’s Liberal frontbencher Angie Bell’s turn at the despatch box next and she asks if the cooling housing market is “Labor policy working as it was designed”.
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, spends most of her answer having a dig at the opposition, but briefly addresses the actual question.
And spoiler alert, O’Neil also brings up Melissa McIntosh’s call for a Liberal “rebrand”.
I think the parliament is very well versed on this one. In the medium term the advice from treasury is that house prices will continue to rise, but a little bit more slowly than they otherwise would have.
Speaker, we had one of the frontbenchers given a notable interview today, saying that her party needs a rebrand.
Dan Tehan is getting his steps up today because he is back making a point of order. Milton Dick tells O’Neil to stop talking about the opposition.
She says “very happy to”, except seems to ignore Dick and keeps trying to lash the Coalition.
I’m simply making the point, Speaker, that we’ve got frontbenchers openly saying that they need to rethink the existence of their political party. On this side of the parliament, we’re living a different experience.
Katter accuses Labor of prioritising ‘double degree ideological know-alls’
Bob Katter is up next from the crossbench with a question that I’m somewhat struggling to decipher, but it’s about the government’s reformed Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
He says the act “effectively dispossesses the people who have lived and loved their land for generations”, and asks if the government will continue prioritising the “double degree ideological know-alls” against the people who did “hard yakka”.
Tony Burke, who represents the environment minister in the House, says approval times under the legislation are significantly improved, and that the legislation deals with heritage listings.
The legislation itself does and has always dealt with heritage listings, both national and world Heritage, where it’s not often appreciated, do not simply deal with natural values, they deal with cultural values as well, and a large number of listings, quite specifically include cultural values and it has been the legal way to make sure that the principles that he has referred to in the question find their way into Australian law.
Labor and the Coalition spar over ‘cleaning up messes’ as first MP is booted from chamber
Angus Taylor is back at the despatch box and asks the PM when he’ll step in to “clean up the treasurer’s mess” after Jim Chalmers said he would fix the widow tax but couldn’t say how.
Before the PM can answer, Labor MP for Adelaide Steve Georganas says something about cleaning up the Liberals’ mess, and promptly gets kicked out by Milton Dick – our first of the day.
It looks like Melissa McIntosh’s interview is going to haunt the Liberals – at least for the next hour, with Albanese quickly whipping out and weaponising her words again.
He says:
It’s pretty bold of the leader of the opposition to speak about cleaning up messes, when his shadow ministers are out there saying the Liberal party should be dissolved and start again.
(It’s not quite what she said – McIntosh called for a revisit of the Liberal values and rebranding of the party).
The opposition tries to make a point of order on relevance, which doesn’t get very far, before Albanese continues.
I gave an answer to the first question, Mr Speaker, which is that none of those people will be impacted, none of them.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2026/jun/29/australia-politics-live-vanuatu-nakamal-treaty-pacific-china-anthony-albanese-jotham-napat-one-nation-coalition-pauline-hanson-angus-taylor-royal-commission-antisemitism-ntwnfb
About the Author
