It is really special to be here tonight supporting the important work of the Affinity Intercultural Foundation and the wonderful Ahmet Polat.
Thank you to Minister Steve Kamper and Shadow Minister Mark Coure for co-hosting this dinner and for the bipartisan support behind it and the support of all parties present.
Good evening to all MPs and community leaders.
A couple of weeks ago the ASIO Director General, Mike Burgess, in his annual threat assessment, painted this concerning picture:
Many of the foundations that have underpinned Australia's security, prosperity and democracy are being tested: social cohesion is eroding, trust in institutions is declining, intolerance is growing, even truth itself is being undermined by conspiracy, mis- and disinformation.
I agree with him and tonight, I want to talk about what human rights has to say and do on some of these big issues.
We are of course meeting on Aboriginal land.
I acknowledge Gadigal Elders and Ancestors and the Gadigal people's ongoing culture and connection to country. I acknowledge their Eora Nation neighbours and all First Nations people present.
I spent two years working at the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the first truth telling inquiry looking at historical and ongoing injustice against First Nations people in Victoria.
It was a privilege for me, a non-Aboriginal person, to do this work. It profoundly changed the way I look at the world.
The truth telling work Yoorrook is doing, alongside the treaty work of the elected First Peoples Assembly, is changing Victoria for the better.
Victoria is engaging with First Nations people as equals to build a better understanding of our shared history and to negotiate how we can create a better future together.
A future where First Nations people have control over the issues that affect their lives.
Where First Nations families have access to quality education, housing and healthcare.
Where First Nations communities are prosperous, where country is healthy and where culture and language is thriving.
The work at Yoorrook also gave me a better understanding of the successes and failures of the modern human rights movement and the role it has played in the struggle for equality.
The modern human rights movement emerged out of the horrors of World War 2. The international community came together and said, "Never Again".
In a remarkable period of innovation between 1945 and 1951, a new framework of international law and institutions was established to promote global peace, development and prosperity.
The UN Charter, the Nuremberg trials, the Genocide Convention, the Geneva Conventions, the Refugee Convention and most of all, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Australia was closely involved in the Universal Declaration. An Australian, William Hodgson, was one of just nine people on the drafting committee led by the extraordinary Eleanor Roosevelt.
Out of the nadir of mass slaughter and human suffering, these drafters created a document that should rightly be celebrated as one of the pinnacles of human achievement.
Australia's Foreign Minister, Doc Evatt, strongly supported the Declaration and was President of the UN General Assembly when it was adopted.
The Declaration is said to be the most translated document in human history.
It lists 30 rights that are essential for all of us to live a decent dignified life, no matter who we are or where we are.
The right to be safe, to vote, to stand for elections, to peacefully assemble and protest, to an education and to an adequate standard of living including food, health and housing and more.
These rights are the key to a good life for all.
The blueprint for the kind of society we all want to live in.
They reflect values like equality, freedom, respect, dignity, kindness, thinking of others and looking out for each other.
In this way they are similar to the golden rule running through most of the world's religions - treat others as you would want to be treated.
When human rights are respected, our lives are better and our communities are stronger, healthier, safer and more prosperous.
How is this relevant today and what's it got to do with the rising intolerance we are seeing?
The first article of the UN Declaration proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
These simple words say to every one of us, no matter who you are, or where you are - you have value, you matter and you deserve dignity - because of the mere fact that you are human.
The words are grounded in our common humanity.
Regardless of our differences, we all are human.
No us and them.
We all bleed the same. We all love. We all suffer. We all experience hope, sadness, wonder and joy.
Alongside the human rights treaties that followed it, the Declaration has played a key role in smashing ideas that some humans are worth less than others - a corrosive prejudice that gave rise to slavery, colonisation, eugenics, genocide and more.
The words born free and equal may seem unremarkable today. And this fact speaks to one of the great successes of human rights.
The Declaration and the treaties that followed it sparked huge changes in equality and inclusion for people and communities. Racial equality. Religious equality. Gender equality. Equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex people.
Of course big challenges remain on all these fronts.
On racism, we have made great progress in the past six decades, dismantling the White Australia policy, passing the Racial Discrimination Act, welcoming millions of migrants from around the world and building strong and consistent support for multiculturalism.
But progress is fragile and cannot be taken for granted.
Racism has been rising in recent years.
First Nations communities have seen a spike in the volume and hostility of racism during and after the Voice referendum.
The racial inequality affecting their families and communities is highlighted by the lack of progress on so many of the Closing the Gap targets including child removal and imprisonment.
And since 7 October 2023, underlying and persistent prejudice against Jewish, Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities in Australia has intensified and is having a profound impact on so many.
The repeated antisemitic arson attacks and the discovery of a caravan filled with explosives highlight the gravity of the threats to the Jewish community.
And for Muslim communities, we have seen the recent assault of two Muslim women in a Melbourne shopping centre and a violent online threat made this week against a Sydney mosque referencing the 2019 Christchurch mass shooting that claimed 51 lives.
As Special Envoy Aftab Malik has said, Islamophobia is endemic, normalised and underacknowledged in Australia.
Racism creates stigma, shame and fear.
It dehumanises people and makes them shed their culture and identity in public life.
It denies people full participation in life and harms health and wellbeing.
It corrodes our society and left unchecked leads to violence.
So how do we respond?
Late last year the Australian Human Rights Commission launched our national anti-racism framework that outlines a comprehensive, whole of society approach for eliminating racism in Australia.
The framework has 63 recommendations ranging from education, to law reform, to greater diversity in media and tackling mis and disinformation.
We hope that governments, business and civil society get behind the framework.
I want to end by going back to the beginning and talking about erosion of the foundations of Australia's security, prosperity and democracy.
The values at the heart of Australia's successful liberal democracy are human rights values.
Our citizenship booklet, which seeks to define what is to be Australian, talks about our shared values such as the dignity and freedom of each person, equal opportunity and freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association.
These values unite us.
Living these values is not about picking the suffering that bothers you most.
It is not about selectively applying human rights standards.
To address rising intolerance and prejudice we need leaders like the people gathered in this room to stand up, to stand together to uphold the commitment to human rights which is at the heart of the Universal Declaration.
Ramadan is a time for reflection, for caring for those less fortunate and for spiritual renewal.
Events like tonight's Iftar and the work of Affinity show us the way forward.
Coming together to listen and engage in dialogue so that we can collectively forge a pathway forward towards peace and respect for each other, grounded in our human rights and common humanity.
Ramadan Mubarak.
