People should not be responding to bigoted ugliness with any ugliness of their own.
Tim SoutphommasaneNo-one wants to see violence of any kind on our streets, certainly not any violence that's justified by extreme nationalist ideas or that targets people because of their religion.
Tim SoutphommasaneWe know that a large majority of the Australian society is extremely comfortable with a multicultural society, that we accept that living in a democracy means having a freedom to practise your religion within the limits of the law.
Tim SoutphommasaneAnti-Muslim protests represent a fringe of our society that's seeking to promote hatred and division.
Tim SoutphommasaneThere are many in public life who deserve only our praise and admiration. But there are too many who are products of a class that knows little other than spin and the machinations of politics. Little wonder that leadership of the transforming sort is so hard to come by. The danger is that this may be permanent. Where our best people shun politics because the profession isn't honoured as it once was, this only serves to make the profession even less honoured.
Tim Soutphommasane