Senator KIRK (9:50 PM) —Yesterday we celebrated Harmony Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the diversity of cultures that we call Australian and promoting racial tolerance and acceptance. It is a day on which all Australians should take the time to reflect upon and appreciate the unique range of peoples who have come to call Australia home throughout our 203-year history since white settlement. It was many years ago now that Australia was nicknamed `the lucky country'. Our country was given this name because of the great opportunities that we had to offer to anyone who came here. Australia was a land that gave people a new beginning regardless of their past. Since 1945 over six million people have made Australia their new home.

As a free, open and democratic society, Australia still has a lot to offer its people and this is evidenced by the fact that each year approximately 80,000 people become new Australian citizens. Few other countries of the world could boast such a figure. This represents the tolerance, acceptance and appreciation that the majority of Australians have for other cultures, religions, races and ethnicities.

Yet unfortunately there are always those among us who maintain intolerant attitudes that promote divisiveness. Harmony Day, of all days, is a day for Australians to show the community and the government that such attitudes are unacceptable. The government, through the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and with the support of the Council for Multicultural Australia, administers the Living in Harmony initiative, which is designed to challenge all Australians to: first, take a stand against racism, prejudice and intolerance; second, help build a peaceful and productive future for our children by setting an example of how to live in harmony, making the most of our racial, cultural, social and religious diversity; and third, put into practice the best of traditional Australian values—namely justice, equality, fairness and friendship.

Harmony Day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate these great values and, as a society, to put on our best performance, put our best foot forward, put on our best dress. We have so much to celebrate here, and every one of us is enriched by the multiculturalism of our society. However, we should not ignore the disharmony that we see in some places. This year we saw rioting on Redfern's Block, rioting that showed the extent to which some Indigenous Australians feel disenfranchised in our society—cut out, powerless and ignored. Regardless of who was at fault in the incident in question, reactions show the strength of feeling that is out there in the community. It shows us that there is work to be done on this relationship, work to change this discordant note.

Despite the government's own emphasis on practical reconciliation and effective measures which address the legacy of profound economic and social disadvantage experienced by many Indigenous Australians, the government has fallen short of its own yardstick in the area of practical reconciliation. Census data from 2001 shows that the rate of progress in improving Indigenous wellbeing and reducing the level of inequality experienced by Indigenous people compared to non-Indigenous people is minimal.

We also see a government that has no qualms about refusing access to vital services for temporary protection visa holders. These are people who, by government policy, cannot settle down here in Australia like so many other migrants and refugees who have come to our shores before them. People on rolling TPVs can never be sure of their place in our society, and they can never receive government assistance to help them become a part of Australia. Labor's policy is to end rolling TPVs and to give real meaning to the Harmony Day theme of `You + Me = Us'.

Harmony Day quite appropriately coincides with the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and, in light of this, I would like to speak briefly about the problem of anti-Semitism. Recently, I was fortunate enough to visit Israel. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to expand my knowledge of the Jewish people and their history. Today senators in this chamber debated Senator Stephens's matter of public importance on the threat posed to the cohesion of Australian society by the rise of anti-Semitism. There are approximately 120,000 Jews living in Australia today, constituting the largest Jewish community in the east Asia-Pacific region. The great majority live in Melbourne and Sydney; however, there are also significant communities in Perth, in Brisbane, on the Gold Coast and in my home town of Adelaide. Jewish people were among the first to settle in Australia in the 18th century and, following World War II, many Holocaust survivors immigrated here. Today Australia has the largest per capita number of Holocaust survivors of any community in the world.

Despite the long history Jewish people have with Australia and the significant contribution they have made to Australian society, Jewish people are often the target of racial and political attacks within the community. Over the past few years there has been a substantial rise in the number of reports of anti-Semitic violence, harassment and intimidation. In some ways then, it seems Australia may be becoming less rather than more tolerant. Historically, Jewish people have always been amongst the first to suffer in any wave of intolerance. In Australia, the past few years have also seen an increase in reports of Muslim women harassed in the streets for wearing their headscarves, vandalism of mosques and anti-Muslim graffiti.

This kind of destructive and divisive behaviour cannot be tolerated. These kinds of actions and beliefs threaten to destabilise the social cohesion that Harmony Day is intended to celebrate. If Australia is to continue to be the open, inclusive and multicultural society we pride ourselves upon, then we must work together to dispel these ignorant and racist attitudes. We can celebrate harmony, but we should not pretend to possess it when we do not.

While the government holds the major responsibility for ensuring Australia continues to be a nation of acceptance and tolerance in both policy and law, in practice it is an area in which all Australians can participate. All Australians are entitled to live free from racial vilification, intimidation and harassment. All of us have an obligation to ensure that this right is a reality. Harmony Day reminds us to proactively discourage intolerant and closed-minded attitudes in all aspects of our lives. We must lead by example. Remaining conscious of personal prejudices and endeavouring not to indulge them are the first steps to removing them altogether. Harmony Day offers all Australians an opportunity to stop and consider the value of our uniquely diverse nation. It also gives us the opportunity to consider what more can be done, not to listen to the few discordant notes that sometimes jar our ears.