Labor is considering a plan to revive a code of race ethics, first introduced during Pauline Hanson’s last term in parliament.
Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said Labor’s proposal would be modelled on the code introduced in 1996 by then Labor senator Margaret Reynolds and the Democrat senator John Woodley.
“It would send a message about what sort of parliament we want to be,” Mr Dreyfus told the Guardian Australia.
Politicians would be invited to sign on to the code of ethics outlining the values of tolerance and respect within a multicultural society, and more specifically requiring politicians “to speak and write in a manner which provides factual commentary on a foundation of truth about all issues being debated in the community and the parliament”.
Mr Dreyfus said the proposal has yet to pass through Labor's internal processes, but he is hopeful the code gets at least the same level of majority support as the original initiative in 1996, when 54 per cent of parliamentarians signed on.
The plan comes after Pauline Hanson used her first speech in the Senate to warn that Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Muslims”.
The warning recalled her 1996 maiden speech to the federal parliament, when she warned “we are in danger of being swamped by Asians”.
The move also comes after a new poll, released this week, found 49 per cent of Australians support One Nation’s policy platform urging a ban on Muslim immigration.
