By labelling migrants “self-serving”, Angus Taylor has shown himself and his party to be exactly that.

Desperate to pander to voters deserting to One Nation, the opposition leader and those under him have failed in the very Australian values test they seek to impose on others for a Fair Go.

This dog-whistling, suggesting that people fleeing conflict – particularly from Gaza – pose such risk they should be subjected to Trump-style extreme vetting according to their “group identity” rather than individual circumstances, is deplorable.

Back in 2024, I was sitting next to my independent colleague Zali Steggall in parliament when she called the opposition out for “whipping up a sense of fear” and racism over their stance on visas for asylum seekers from Gaza.

“These are families that you are seeking to paint as somehow they are all terrorists, that they should be mistrusted … and that they are not worthy of humanitarian aid.”

When then opposition leader Peter Dutton interjected, she said: “Stop being racist.” She later withdrew to assist the House.

“I am offended by the rhetoric from the leader of the opposition, the nature of this suspension of standing orders and the continued attempts to divide the Australian society around these lines and issues,” She continued. “We are better than this.”

Dutton rebuffed her comments and he subsequently took a series of Trump-leaning policies to the election and lost in a landslide.

Yet here we are again.

Safety and security are critically important to our nation;........

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