Peter Khalil
Wills · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Nationally, I think it's important to note that we've delivered multiple tax cuts, more bulk billing, five per cent deposits for people's first home, expanded parental leave and early education, free TAFE, 20 per cent off HECS and so much more.”
“We've backed local arts, schools, sports clubs and community organisations through all of the different federal government investments, grants and election commitments, which have been so critically important for those communities. In the environment, we've revitalised sections of Moonee Ponds Creek, which is the border of my electorate.”
“It was 10 years ago today that I had the great privilege of being elected as a member of Wills. In my first speech, I said that I was elected by the people of Wills to serve them and to make a difference in their lives. That sounds simple, but it is a really important commitment and promise.”
“It's one of the great privileges of my time in this place. In my first speech, I warned that we must beware of the demagogues and charlatans who take advantage of the disaffected and angry in our society and direct that anger towards minorities and refugees to stir up their own political ends. Sadly, that warning still pertains today.”
“But the fact is that 2.7 million businesses and 98 per cent of all businesses will be eligible for generous capital gains tax concessions. Why? Because these reforms are all about helping businesses invest, innovate and grow. That is because they are the backbone of our economy. We know that.”
“If you're a new business, if you're a startup, if you've got an idea and you want to transform that idea into something productive for the economy, we're making sure that we help unlock investors through those tax incentives to change that culture so people are willing and incentivised to invest in those new small businesses.”
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“This is to guarantee all families three days of childcare subsidy each fortnight, with 100 hours guaranteed for families caring for First Nations children and families who work, study or train. Over 100,000 families across this country will be eligible for more subsidised hours of early education. That is at least 100,000 children or more—probably a lot more because it is 100,000 families—who will access the transformative benefits of early learning. For a moment, let's just think about the ripple effect of this. Just one child in my electorate of Wills has the potential to make a difference to the lives of those in their community, to the entire country. Each of these people has the potential to contribute positively to the world around them. Times that by over 100,000 and that's the ripple effect you will see. Early education matters.”
“Those opposite have had an insidious contempt for fairness and inclusion, and that has played out in the to early childhood education sector. Those opposite to me have not put forward one cost-of-living policy in their time in opposition. I'd like to hear just one cost-of-living measure. Those opposite to me do not advocate for families, for equal opportunities and choices for women or for an equitable and open educational system to give every single child the same start to life. They never have. I doubt they will. In contrast, the Labor government are building Australia's future when it comes to our policies on early education. There is the three-day guarantee. We want to make sure every child gets the best possible start in life. That's why we've introduced the three-day guarantee for all families.”
“Labor has always been the party of fairness, families and working people. In less than three years in government, the Albanese government has put forward transformative policies to build a universal early childhood education system accessible to all families. We had no choice. In the last four years of the former coalition government, childcare prices went up twice as much as the OECD average, by 49 per cent. Why was this the case? It is not enough to say those opposite are poor economic managers. They like to tout themselves as great economic managers, but the statistics tell a different story. But it's not just that. The mismanagement and neglect by those opposite of the early childhood system and of families more broadly go far beyond this.”
“As health minister, he tried to introduce a GP tax, forcing people to pay every time they saw a doctor. He cut $50 billion from public hospitals. He was voted the worst health minister in Medicare's history by Australian doctors. He tried to destroy Medicare before; we will not let him do it again. Labor built Medicare—and only a Labor government will protect and strengthen it.”
“For my constituents, this will mean faster access to care and less pressure on hospital emergency departments. It means parents with sick kids won't be spending hours in a waiting room. It means older Australians won't be skipping the doctor because they can't afford the gap fee. The Albanese Labor government has also made the largest investment in bulk-billing in Medicare's history. It has tripled the bulk-billing incentives so that those who rely on their GP most—pensioners, kids and concession card holders—can see a doctor without worrying about out-of-pocket costs. But while Labor is strengthening Medicare and building free Medicare urgent care clinics, we've got Peter Dutton as Leader of the Opposition, who's spent a career trying to tear Medicare down.”
“I've been strongly advocating for an increase in bulk-billed appointments and free Medicare urgent care clinics to ensure that people in my community of Wills have access to quality, bulk-billed health care when they need it. Free Medicare urgent care clinics allow families to access bulk-billed health care without waiting hours in an emergency department. We have one near our community, in Carlton, which serves many in the south of my electorate. Under the Albanese Labor government, remarkably, 87 clinics have opened across the country, treating over a million Australians for urgent but non-life-threatening conditions—burns, cuts, broken bones. Every visit is fully bulk-billed. You don't need your credit card; you just need your Medicare card.”
“Medicare and bulk-billed urgent care clinics are so important for many in my community, after suffering a decade of cuts from Peter Dutton and the previous Liberal government. For too long, families, pensioners and vulnerable Australians in my electorate of Wills have struggled with rising healthcare costs and a decline in bulk-billing, the direct result of a decade of coalition neglect. The former government froze Medicare rebates and ripped billions out of primary care, causing gap fees to plummet. For years under the coalition government, my community told me how expensive it was for them to see their GP and how fewer and fewer GPs were offering bulk-billed services.”
“The work they've done to help Chinese immigrants transition smoothly into Australian society exemplifies the power of community and multiculturalism in our country.”
“NEMCA is one of the many organisations which provide space for different cultural recreational activities while offering essential services and support to immigrants adapting to life in Australia. As a child of immigrants, I understand firsthand the challenge of building a new life in a foreign land. I grew up admiring the resilience of my own parents, whose sacrifices paved the way for the future for my sister and me, and I look up to their perseverance and strength. I'm eternally grateful for the sacrifices they made for us. The Chinese immigrants in my electorate know these sacrifices well—the challenge of adapting to the unfamiliar and the courage required to start anew. In my role as Special Enjoy for Social Cohesion, it brings me great joy to see the ways in which NEMCA has promoted Chinese culture in Victoria.”
“Today I want to wish those in my electorate who celebrate a very happy lunar new year. In particular, I want to wish the Chinese residents of my electorate, especially members of the North Eastern Melbourne Chinese Association, NEMCA, a prosperous year of the snake ahead. The Chinese Australian community in my electorate is a small but vibrant one. Last year, I accepted NEMCA's invitation to celebrate the moon festival and China's national day with them. Last year was also the 30th anniversary of the founding of NEMCA, the first association in Victoria representing Chinese immigrants from mainland China and celebrating the achievements of Chinese migrants to our great multicultural story.”
“We are standing with all communities targeted by hate, and that is something that we are doing in order to protect vulnerable communities in our nation.”
“Those members have a choice: they can support this bill and take a stand against hate or they can continue to dog whistle and divide. The same applies to other members of this place who have fanned the flames of hatred with the words that they have used. That is something that we should all be cognisant of: as political representatives, all of us bear a responsibility—a greater one than just debating policies and laws—of setting the tone for our nation through our leadership. Our words and actions shape public discourse, influence community attitudes and have real consequences for people's lives. Leadership demands that we stand up against hate, not exploit it for political gain, and that is what the Albanese Labor government is doing today by introducing this amending bill.”
“The fact is the Leader of the Opposition was a senior member of a government that actually fought to strip protections for all marginalised communities against hate speech. If that wasn't enough, just last week we also saw the Leader of the Opposition launch an extraordinary attack on the Australian Human Rights Commission, calling it a rogue body for merely upholding Australia's commitments to human rights. There have been multiple opportunities to unequivocally condemn the escalating hate speech and vilification, and yet the choice there was to undermine institutions that are there to protect Australians from discrimination. The choice to fuel division and discord is not leadership. The manufacturing of culture wars and the cynical attempts to stoke the flames of division for short-term political gain are not leadership.”
“So when we see this politicisation, particularly by the opposition, minor parties and other political actors in this place, it is running against the fact that, rather than uniting with and supporting the actions that are being taken by the government, there's a choice there that's being made to politicise. The Leader of the Opposition had nine years in government to legislate against hate symbols and the Nazi salute. He didn't. We did, and it all came into effect last year. He had nine years in government to legislate against doxxing. He didn't, and the coalition actually voted against the bill that criminalised it. He had nine years in government to legislate against hate crimes. He didn't. We're doing that now in parliament with this bill.”
“More importantly, it reinforces our commitment to fostering a cohesive society where all Australians, regardless of background, feel safe, valued and included. What the government is doing is matching our words with our actions, and I know there's been a degree of politicisation around the challenges we face. The Albanese Labor government has taken a lot of substantive action over this period of time, and I know there's been a lot of criticism from various points in the political spectrum. I think it's important to note, though, that when I said words actually matter, we've heard that not just from myself in this place but also from people like the Director-General of ASIO, who talked about the fact that words can inflame tensions and make things worse.”
“But, on the whole, we have been a successful multifaith and multi-ethnic nation, and that pluralism has become celebrated and embraced. We've seen the devastating consequences of hate crimes here. We've seen it play out. We've seen it play out abroad. We know that when people move towards violence to express their ideological or political views, it's often following a long line, a long tail, of online radicalisation or public intimidation—and the unchecked nature of that hate speech follows through into more and more egregious, violent actions towards others. This bill, these amendments, ensures that law enforcement have the tools necessary to intervene before words turn into violence—or physical violence, because words themselves can be a form of violence, as we know.”
“We have been able to actually live in a relatively harmonious society over many decades, and people say, 'Oh, what a miracle.' It's not a miracle. It's based on the hard work and the commitment of generations of Australians, not just the political leaders in this place. Yes, the parliament has played a role in setting those legal frameworks and that architecture, but millions of Australians—individuals—have committed to those principles to ensure that, even if they disagree with someone, they are navigating that difference without resorting to violence and hate. It sounds simplistic and it sounds easy, but it doesn't happen in a lot of parts of the world. What we've created here is something special. I'm not saying we're perfect. There have been many instances where ethnic and other disputes have emerged.”
“Hate speech and hate fuelled violence don't just harm the individuals who are the immediate victims. They really undermine and threaten the very fabric of our society and who we are. When extremists feel emboldened to intimidate, to vilify and to physically attack individuals and communities based on their identities, they're not just targeting those individuals. They're attempting, in many ways, to bring down and undermine and destroy the very fundamental elements of who we are as a liberal democracy—the values of equality and fairness, the cohesion and harmony that define us, and our ability to engage with each other. We have people from hundreds of countries around the world, with hundreds of different languages and faiths and so many different backgrounds, who've adopted this country and made it their home.”
“In detail, the bill and amendments combat hate speech and protect the Australian community from violence and discrimination by specifically creating a new criminal offence for threatening the use of force or violence against protected groups, their associates and property and by strengthening existing offences for urging the use of force or violence against protected groups, their associates and property. The existing offences of publicly displaying prohibited hate symbols would be extended to apply to circumstances where the targeted persons are distinguished by sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status. This accords with Australia's international human rights obligations and complements existing civil protections in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.”
“These amendments are a direct response to the recommendations of the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee and the extensive consultations the government has undertaken with community stakeholders, law enforcement and a variety of legal experts. They're amendments that will expand the existing offence of urging violence and establish new offences as well. In doing so, we are extending protections for many minority groups that are vulnerable—LGBTQI+ communities, people with disabilities, religious minorities, racially diverse groups and many more.”
“They strengthen our ability to combat hate speech and protect many vulnerable communities who are feeling the pain right now of being the victims of egregious and disgraceful forms of hatred such as antisemitism, which has been such a scourge, and the rise of antisemitism, which has been such a scourge in the past 15 months. In modern day Australia, Jewish Australians feel in such a vulnerable state. I've visited a number of synagogues and I've been to the Adass Israel Synagogue. I've been to other synagogues where I've spoken to people. You can sense the fear and the palpable anger and the uncertainty that people are feeling.”
“The amendments we are introducing in the bill before us seek to build on that strong foundation, that legal framework and architecture that sets a standard for people to follow and says clearly that discriminating against people based on who they are is unacceptable under the law. In many respects, what parliaments and governments do over decades in setting that standard in a legal sense is a form of leadership, insofar as society moves in that direction as well and changes to understand that these actions are no longer acceptable—if they ever were. They never were. That is the power of politics and the power of being in this place and in this parliament and of our duty to make laws. These amendments build on that strong foundation, as I noted.”
“Ensuring cohesion and harmony in our society requires us here in this place to take responsibility and take a firm stand against those who would seek to divide us through fear, hatred, anger and violence. I'm a member of the Labor Party. It's a party of government, and it has been the architect of the antidiscrimination framework of this country. We put in place the Racial Discrimination Act in 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act in 1984 and the Disability Discrimination Act in 1992, and we supported the Age Discrimination Act, which was passed in 2004 by the former coalition government.”
“Thinking about how we say and do things, and why that matters when it comes to engaging with different people and different groups, is of critical importance, but we know, of course, that hate fuelled violence and discrimination remain a real threat. We're seeing the emergence of the vile hatred of antisemitism. The ancient scourge of antisemitism has been unleashed, and that's why this bill is important. We can't afford to be complacent while these hate crimes continue to increase. As previous speakers have noted, this legislative response is a very important marker. Putting in place this hate crimes legislation gives a very clear signal from the very top of the political leadership of this country, from this parliament, this place, that hate crimes are unacceptable, both legally and morally. That is what real leadership is about.”
“The sense of Australianness, of who we are as a nation, is really important, but so is the sense of a shared humanity—understanding that, even if someone is from a completely different background than you, with completely different experiences, and you disagree with them wholeheartedly, down to your bones, you still have a shared humanity. The basic decency that comes into play there is being able to understand, or at least tolerate, others' perspectives without resorting to a form of violence or hate speech. That's a sense of basic decency. That's something that the law can't enforce. It's about who we are as people, it's about behaviour and morality, and it's about what Australians are like as people—the fair go that we always talk about.”
“This also depends on people's willingness and ability to feel like they are part of a society, like they are part of a nation, with an investment in that society so that they make the commitment and take the responsibility to engage in a peaceful and respectful way and call out the hate speech and anyone that seeks to use violence or hate speech to express themselves. I think a sense of belonging, of being part of a community and part of a nation—part of Australia—is really important so that you can make that commitment as a citizen.”
“How we interact with each other, as individuals and as members of organisations, groups and communities, is of critical importance. It's about how we do so in such a way that, despite what may be very deeply held disagreements, that interaction occurs peacefully and respectfully. Where it becomes a threat to our cohesion, to our harmony as a multi-ethnic, multifaith, pluralistic society, is when it crosses over into hate speech and vilification of others based on their identity—when violence and conflict are used to express views, rather than navigating disagreements in a peaceful way. We're debating an amendment bill that seeks to sanction some of this hate speech. It deals with the problem that is occurring and has been occurring.”
“I rise in strong support of the government's Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024. We are a nation, I think we can agree across the aisle here and across partisanship, that values diversity, inclusivity and respect, and one thing I've learnt as the Special Envoy for Social Cohesion is that it's not that complicated. Having a harmonious society comes down to ensuring that when people have differences and disagreements, sometimes vehement disagreements, they can navigate the difference peacefully and respectfully, which adds to the harmony and cohesion in our society. It doesn't mean we will never disagree or never have difference. It means we have the skill and the ability to engage with each other in a peaceful, respectful way and not let it cross over into hate speech or violence.”
“We have to see beyond the short-term political prism to take actions and speak words that go to protecting and supporting all Australians regardless of their faith or identity, calling out the hatreds such as antisemitism, not sowing division and discord to make short-term political gain. This is our responsibly to the Jewish Australian community so that we can once again make sure that they feel safe and secure in this country.”
“This small but vocal and loud minority who hold hatred in their hearts, who seek to break down our cohesive society through violence and intimidation—the leadership here in this place and across the country, in every community, in every citizen believing in and committing to their nation and citizenship, and the responsibility to protect it from violence are what will defeat that hatred. Unfortunately, we have seen in this place those who have sought to use the human tragedy to politicise attacks on Jewish Australians for their own short-term political gain and, worse, fanned the very flames of hatred. That's an abrogation of responsibility as democratic representatives.”
“It has to be addressed beyond legal sanction, and that happens when representatives in this place, grassroots communities across Australia and every individual Australian citizen understand that we all have a responsibility to engage and navigate our differences peacefully. I confess that I don't know whether the rise of antisemitism that we have seen across Australia is from a very loud and violent minority or whether what we're seeing is an unleashing of an ancient hatred that has always existed, lurking underneath. I sincerely hope it's the former. In my heart I believe that the vast majority of Australians are inherently good people who give each other a fair go regardless of their faith backgrounds and reject violence and hate as a means to an end.”
“This goes to the heart of social cohesion: that we can disagree, that we can have deeply held viewpoints of the world that are different from one another, that our society works only when we are able to navigate those differences peacefully and respectfully without resorting to violence or hate speech. At every turn, the government has unequivocally condemned antisemitism and has taken extensive policy and legislative measures to protect the Jewish Australian community and tackle antisemitism, but legal sanctions from any government can go only so far. The deep hatred within people who think that violence is a legitimate form of expressing their political or ideological views has to change.”
“It's run its wicked course through history; through the pogroms of Europe to the culmination of the greatest horror mankind had ever perpetrated on itself, in the Holocaust; and now into our Jewish Australian community, who feel this ancient scourge in an unprecedented way in modern-day Australia. I considered in late 2023 that we would be facing not only a political storm but also a moral storm. In those moments in the eye of the storm, it's important to hold fast to the mast that is our principles, to go through the battering of the storm to find calmer waters on the other side. But what are these principles? No Australian should be subject to violence and hatred because of their faith or their ethnic identity.”
“There is the deep, indescribable pain of Jewish Australians who lost loved ones in the kibbutzim and of the Palestinian Australian teacher in my electorate who lost a dozen family numbers in the bombing of Gaza, and they are joined only in the darkness of their grief, which is the sad remaining remnant of shared humanity. Now there has been the unleashing of the vile scourge of an ancient hatred, antisemitism, upon Jewish Australians. There is what I can only explain as a dark dread in the pit of my stomach that these ancient animosities, these ancient hatreds, that have wound their way through thousands of years have now come to hurt our people in Australia because of their faith or ethnic background. Antisemitism is a violent, ancient hatred.”
“I remember vividly, on the morning of 8 October 2023, the first conversations I had expressing what I thought would be an urgent need to put in place protections for places of worship in Australia, such as synagogues, churches, mosques, Jewish schools and community centres, because I knew from bitter personal experience that there would be terrible ramifications from the horrific massacre of October 7, the unleashing of that dreadful, dark hatred and violence that saw the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. There was the massacre of 1,200 people and the capturing of 250 hostages; the 15 months of war, death and destruction; the loss of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian lives; and the displacement of millions.”