If new Liberal Leader Angus Taylor wants to talk about hate and violence in Australia, he is right about one thing: it is a serious problem. He’s wrong about pretty much everything else.
Where he is very wrong is in implying that this problem is something imported.
His first port of call after being elected was to double down on a hardline immigration policy, pledging to slash intake numbers and apply some kind of values test to keep out the proverbial boogeyman coming to take “our way of life”.
You’d think someone of his economic credibility would stick with what he knows, but apparently he’d rather reignite the culture wars and vomit up a little Abbott era nightmare.
According to Taylor, we must “explicitly shut the door on people who reject our way of life, who don’t believe in our core values” and those who might “bring the hate and violence from another place”.
He is pointing the finger in the wrong direction. The evidence is clear. Much of the worst political and ideological violence associated with Australia has been perpetrated by Australians.
The pretence is, of course, the false claims early after the Chanukah Massacre at Bondi Beach that the persecutors were recently arrived migrants. When in fact they were an Australian born citizen and his father who had been a permanent resident for more than 20 years.
Christchurch massacre gunman, Brenton Tarrant, who described himself as “happy” to be charged as a terrorist? Martin Bryant of the Port Arthur Massacre? The two gunmen from completely different incidents currently on the run, Dezi Freeman and Julian Ingram? All citizens, all born in Australia, just like Naveed Akram.
If we look more broadly at mass-casualty attacks and extremist violence in Australia, the dominant thread is not migration. It is homegrown radicalisation – white supremacist ideology, neo-Nazi networks, sovereign citizens – and deeply entrenched misogyny combined with normalisation of violence.
Overlay the mass killings and terror events with the grim statistics of domestic violence, and the picture becomes even clearer: Australians are overwhelmingly killed by Australians. And the killer’s name is more likely to be Jack than Mohammed.
Now, I’m not going to get into what do we do about the hate and violence we already have here, my point is only that hate and violence is not arriving by plane or boat.
It is already here, being nurtured in online echo chambers, allowed to fester in our ineffective and biased justice systems, and given a pass by the cheap politics of those like Hanson who puts rapists on staff, selects convicted domestic violence abusers as candidates, and accuses the victims of domestic violence of making it up.
And now, apparently, the Liberal Party wants to join in the sport of throwing rocks at the ‘others’ and completely ignoring the glass house.
This is not a comfortable conversation. It is far easier to imply that violence is imported, that “our way of life” is under threat from outside forces, and that stricter border settings will somehow make us safer. But when the problem is domestic extremism and domestic violence, border policy is a distraction.
Australians are responsible for Australian hate.
That does not mean we abandon careful migration settings and ASIO screenings. It does mean we stop pretending that cutting numbers or adding more tests or checks will address the core drivers of violence within our communities.
And the New England has a particular stake in getting this issue right.
Our hospitals depend on overseas-trained doctors and nurses. Our aged care facilities rely on migrant staff. Our farms depend on seasonal labour, most of which is coming from overseas. Our small businesses and schools are kept open by families who have chosen this region as home.
Without immigrants, we would not have enough skilled people to keep our towns functioning.
When political leaders cast suspicion on immigrants as potential carriers of hate, they send a signal to those very workers and families that they are provisional members of the national story. That they must prove, again and again, that they belong.
And that hate, whipped up by Hanson, Joyce, and now Taylor, goes beyond making immigrants feel undermined and unwelcome. Just last Friday I personally had to deal with being told that Australia was my ‘adopted country’, and I was asked ‘why are you even here’?
A blue eyed, white skinned, seventh generation Australian, descended from a long and proud line of farmers, politicians, and religious leaders, asked to defend their existence and participation in this country… because 16 years ago I discovered I had Jewish ancestry and decided to embrace and acknowledge that part of my heritage.
When our many immigrants do not feel safe or do not feel welcome, it affects all of us.
The values of the New England are not the politics of fear. They are pragmatic, community-minded and grounded in fairness and compassion. Our towns have long histories of welcoming newcomers because we understand that population growth, skills and diversity are not threats – they are much valued assets.
If the Liberal Party under Angus Taylor chooses to frame immigration as the central vector of hate and violence, and seek to stop or hinder the people we need from coming here, then it is up to regional voices to say plainly and firmly: you, Angus Taylor, are the problem.
You, Angus Taylor, are the threat to our way of life. You are not welcome here.
Here’s hoping the Nationals can stop playing games and remember they are there to represent us, and fight for what is best for regional communities.
RK (Kath) Crosby is the CEO of research and strategy company KORE CSR, former strategist for the Australian Democrats, and a well known migraine advocate. She is also the Publisher of New England Times and North Coast Times.
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