Many motions are put before the Senate every time it meets, but one from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, that almost passed, has sparked a major controversy around the Morrison Government.
The subject: It's okay to be white.
In moving the motion that said just that, Senator Hanson told the Senate how it voted would say much about the present state of Australia.
((HANSON))
(("Anyone who pays attention to the news, or spends any time on social media, has to acknowledge that there has been a rise in anti-white racism and a rise in attacks on the very ideals of Western civilisation. I would also hope the Senate does the right thing and acknowledges it is, indeed, okay to be white. Such a simple sentence should go without saying, but I suspect many members in this place would struggle to say it. People have a right to be proud of their cultural background, whether they are black, white or brindle. If we cannot agree on this, I think it's safe to say anti-white racism is well and truly rife in our society."))
While saying it's okay to be any race or skin colour might seem a simple matter, the problem is "it's okay to be white" is a slogan used by white-supremacist groups.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale quickly realised it in his response to the motion, strongly attacking both Senator Hanson and a former One Nation senator, Fraser Anning.
((DI NATALE))
(("Look, the reality is this 'It's okay to be white' slogan has got a long history in the white-supremacist movement, where both these clowns get most of their material from. You know what it's not okay to be in this country? It's not okay to be Aboriginal, because you're more likely to die younger, to be locked up. It's not okay to be an African person, because you're more likely to experience racism. It's not okay to be a Muslim."))
Yet, when the time came to vote on the motion, most of the Government's senators, including six Cabinet ministers, voted for it.
It was barely defeated, 31 votes to 28.
The Government now says it was mistake to vote for the motion and claims the vote in favour of it by Government senators resulted from an administrative error.
Attorney-General Christian Porter says his staff sent an early e-mail, without his knowledge, advising Government senators to vote for the motion.
He says his staff interpreted the motion as a motion against racism and did not realise it was language used by white supremacists.
In yet another twist, the Government's leader in the Senate, Finance Minister Matias ((muh-TEE-us)) Cormann, says, when Senator Hanson first proposed the motion last month, ((sept)) the Government decided to vote against it.
((CORMANN 1))
(("The Government should have opposed. When the motion was first put forward in September and we considered opposition to the motion, we made a decision to oppose that motion and to make a statement in our own words that, as a government, we deplore racism of any kind, but not to actually support the motion."))
Senator Cormann says he takes responsibility for what happened.
((CORMANN 2))
(("As the leader of the Government in the Senate, I take responsibility for that error, and I'm sorry that that happened. It was, indeed, regrettable. As I indicated, when this motion first came up, we made a very clear decision to oppose that motion. It wasn't voted on in September. It came back up yesterday, and it slipped through. It shouldn't have."))
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also says the Government's support for the motion was regrettable.
But the Opposition has seized on the matter.
A motion has now been moved in the House of Representatives rejecting the motion moved in the Senate.
Manager of Opposition Business in the House Tony Burke says the Government has put bipartisan support for multiculturalism in Australia at risk.
((BURKE))
(("This is a debate about whether or not the modern Liberal Party is willing to support modern Australia, because, last night, they didn't."))
Justice Party senator Derryn Hinch has told Sky News the motion is part of a racist agenda being pushed by Senator Hanson and her former ally, Senator Anning.
But he says good people in the Government have been swept up in it.
((HINCH))
(("She and Senator Anning are now in this bigoted, racist race to the bottom of the sewer, and I believe that the notice of motion could have been written on toilet paper. I thought it was disgusting. And at least some of these Liberals -- Nigel Scullion, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs -- some of them at least had the decency to look very uncomfortable as that vote went down."))
