The motion passed on Thursday, but only after references to Kelly and Christensen were removed, and condemnation of far-left extremism, communism, anarchism and violence generally were added.
Commenting on the Scanlon report, which found rising complaints of racism, particularly among Chinese-Australians, Hawke said “the government rejects [shadow home affairs minister Kristina] Keneally’s thesis, that there is rising extremism in Australia”.
“It is extreme elements, fringe elements, in Australia that need tackling, they are being tackled,” he told Sky News. “What we have here is increased social cohesion, not increasing extremism.”
The comments echo home affairs minister Peter Dutton’s attempts in February 2020 to blunt warnings about far-right extremism by warning of “leftwing terrorism”, which he falsely claimed included Islamist groups.
Labor has accused the government of seeking to “downplay and dismiss” the threat of rightwing extremism in contradiction of national security advice, after the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, denied extremism is on the rise in Australia. Hawke made the comments on Sky News on Thursday morning, and was backed by his Senate colleagues who rewrote a motion deleting references to a “significant increase in far-right extremism” in Australia. Labor.
Australia will sign up to two international agreements that aim to integrate climate risk into investment decision-making including through pricing risk, Sussan Ley will announce.
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A move by social media giants to ban US President Donald Trump has sparked renewed debate among politicians in Australia over whether the suspensions amount to problematic censorship.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and other outspoken government MPs have criticised the platforms ban after the president was accused of inciting a riot at the US Capitol.
Mr Trump was removed from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram after posting messages the tech-giants deemed could invoke further violence.
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Mr McCormack – who is acting prime minister this week - said it should not be up to the platforms to decide whose voices were heard.