Taylor won’t say if he supports multiculturalism as Chalmers says he’s trying to ‘out-One Nation One Nation’ | Australian politics

Angus Taylor has repeatedly refused to say whether he supports multiculturalism in Australia; At a press conference, he dodged five questions about his views and claimed there was “a lot of vague talk floating around.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers accused the opposition leader of “playing footsie” with One Nation and Pauline Hanson’s call for “monoculture” in Australia; because Labor ministers were determined to support multiculturalism.

“One of the reasons why the liberal party is dying [Taylor’s] “Efforts to defeat One Nation One Nation are becoming increasingly pathetic,” Chalmers said during question time.

Hanson’s “monoculture” demands in his speech to the National Press Club last week were met with opposition from other members of the Liberal party. Shadow minister Jonno Duniam on Monday described it as a “bizarre concept” and spoke of the “success of multiculturalism”.

In his National Press Club speech, Hanson claimed that multiculturalism was a “failed policy” that gave all cultures “equivalent to our own.”

“Of course, opposing this is not racism, it is common sense,” he said.

Hanson did not explain exactly what he meant by “monoculture” but claimed on Channel Seven’s Sunrise program on Tuesday that his idea was to “come together strongly under one culture”.

“I’m certainly not saying forget where you come from or your cultural background,” Hanson said.

Hanson, who infamously claimed in his first speech to parliament in 1996 that Australia would be “swamped by Asians”, pointed to Japan, a historically ethnically homogeneous country, as an example for Australia to follow.

“Japan has a monoculture, so what’s wrong with Australia having a monoculture?” he said.

Asked on Tuesday whether he supported the idea of ​​a monoculture, Taylor did not confirm or deny, saying: “The culture I want to see in this country is people who believe and support Australian standards in this country… a commitment to our parliamentary democracy, a commitment to the rule of law, a commitment to our fundamental freedoms, a commitment to equal respect and dignity with all Australians.”

Asked whether multiculturalism is an integral tenet of Australian society, Taylor did not directly answer the question. When asked whether he believed that the set of values ​​he outlined could coexist with multiculturalism, he replied: “I don’t know exactly what you mean by that question.

“I don’t think it’s complicated, I’ve said it many times and I’ll continue to say it because that’s what we believe, we will discriminate based on values. We will not discriminate based on race.”

Asked if he thought Australia should be a “monoculture”, Taylor replied: “Explain to me what you mean by that. There’s a lot of vague words around.”

When asked further questions about multiculturalism, Taylor again flatly refused to endorse the policy, asking: “Do you want to define that for me?”

“We may have people from all over the world, from all races and religions in this country, but they have to share these core values,” he said.

Despite his demands for a definition of multiculturalism, Taylor appointed senator Dave Sharma, shadow deputy minister for multiculturalities, to his frontline team; This post also existed under his predecessor, Sussan Ley. Former Liberal leaders John Howard, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and Malcolm Fraser also appointed multicultural affairs ministers.

Taylor’s office was contacted for comment on whether he supports multiculturalism policy.

Asked about Hanson’s remarks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a press conference: “Modern Australia is not, and never has been, a monoculture.

“I was at an Assyrian ceremony yesterday, it was a wonderful event in Sydney’s southwest. Should this be allowed to happen?” he said.

“I will be meeting with members of the Jewish Orthodox community here next week. Is this appropriate in Australia?”

“We had a rich culture and when we look at the Socceroos, we see examples of that rich culture… That’s who we are. So, it’s a really ridiculous argument to go back to something that was never really there. And I think it’s an example of a poorly thought through policy and vision for the country that doesn’t represent who we are in 2026.”

Speaking immediately after Taylor’s press conference, Chalmers criticized the opposition leader’s words.

“This side of the house recognizes the huge and important contribution to Australian values ​​that a multicultural Australia has made. Not for this side of the house, this nonsense that plays footsie with the language of monoculture pushed by the One Nation party.”

Albanese said the press conference questions posed to Taylor were “not a complicated question because we have never been a monoculture.”

One Nation MP David Farley said he saw “monoculturalism” as “Australian first” regardless of a person’s ethnicity or language spoken.

“You came to this country… and through the generous gift we gave you, you were adopted by this country to be an Australian. So you’re the first Australian, so just blend in,” he said on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing on Tuesday.

“It’s amazing that we’re building nations faster than we can build nations through immigration, and it’s worked, and it’s worked well to date, but we have some problems, and those problems need to be addressed, addressed, and fixed.”

When asked at the press club whether it was possible to become a monocultural society after generations of celebrating Australia’s multicultural history, Hanson claimed it “didn’t work”.