The Coalition’s immigration spokesman has promised to select more Indian candidates and declared that allowing anyone to become Australian is a “core value” of the Liberal Party.
Pro-multiculturalism Queensland senator Paul Scarr made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with SBS Hindi where he also claimed recent March for Australia rallies caused “pain and distress” to Indian immigrants, scolded colleague Jacinta Price, and refused to commit to a migration target.
“I would like to see more multicultural faces from all communities standing as candidates from the Liberal Party, I’d like to see more women candidates,” he told SBS interviewer Natasha Kaul when asked the party was planning to preselect more Indian candidates.
“If the Liberal Party is to be successful, as I hope it is, at the next election and elections to come, the Liberal Party will need to reflect modern Australia.”
Mr Scarr repeatedly praised Indian immigrants throughout the interview, said English tests should be removed for highly educated immigrants and the language taught in “safe space” community organisations instead, and insisted that multiculturalism was a core value of his party.
“The Liberal Party has a proud history going back to the 1960 in terms of dismantling the White Australia Policy and recognising that we should have a non-discriminatory immigration policy, and that is fundamental to our values,” he said.
“So it is fundamental for the discharge of my obligations as shadow immigration minister and shadow minister for citizenship and multicultural affairs to stand up for those core values.
“And in terms of our immigration story as a country, we’re a proud migrant country, and our history tells us that our migrants, no matter where they come from, from India, from the African continent … wherever people come from they make such a wonderful contribution to Australia.”
He went to on answer several questions about Senator Jacinta Price, who was dumped from Opposition leader Sussan Ley’s shadow cabinet last month after saying there were concerns that Labor was in favour of mass immigration from India because 85% of Indians end up voting for Labor.
“People need to be very careful when engaging in loose language and loose rhetoric, because it can be very damaging in terms of our relationships with communities, and can cause distress within communities,” he said.
“People are giving speeches, they’re saying things all the time, but great care is needed because there can be consequences.”
Mr Scarr also said a March for Australia pamphlet that mentioned mass immigration from India caused “pain and distress”, and said he had heard some “terrible stories” about the anti-immigration rallies.
“I’ve heard of people going to work the Monday after the marches, and having a fellow employee come up to them and say ‘you know I marched’,” he said.
“It’s heartbreaking when I hear those stories because I know how much our wonderful Indian Australian community belongs, and the contribution that’s made.”
When asked what the “right” net overseas migration level should be, Mr Scarr refused to set a target, saying he preferred a “range” instead.
He said the net overseas migration average of about 220,000 during the 15 years before Covid was suitable at the time, but noted that Australia had a smaller population during that period.
Mr Scarr’s comments come after the Indian government praised his party for condemning the March for Australia rallies, fellow Liberal MP Julian Leeser said he wanted more Indians in his Sydney electorate, and Indian immigrant WA Labor MP Parwinder Kaur said she was more Australian than Europeans because she shared DNA with aboriginals.
After taking over as immigration spokesman Mr Scarr scrapped the Coalition’s pre-election commitment to reduce permanent migration, and has instead focused on trying to win over immigrant voters.
The Liberal Party has since tanked in the polls, hitting a record low primary vote of 27% last week while One Nation has seen its support double and is now polling at 13% due to the Coalition’s new pro-immigration stance.
Header image: Left, Paul Scarr during the interview (SBS Hindi). Right, at a a”Deepvali” festival on Tuesday (Facebook).
