‘Australia got played’: Albanese blasted over Modi's Melbourne rally

I wanted to have a little chat with you about what happened in Melbourne last night, and what it says about the ongoing debate about multiculturalism.You see, there was a major political rally held last night at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium.And not just any sort of rally, but a rally for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was hosted by our own Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.The crowd numbered in the tens of thousands, and according to one report, tickets to the event sold out, quote, faster than a Taylor Swift concert.Albanese was almost sycophantic in his welcome, saying that Modi was, quote, a dear friend, unquote, of his, though he didn't quite go so far as giving him the full Kylie Minogue treatment.Thank gosh.

But anyway, the two posed for selfies, and Modi was just as effusive in return, even doing a welcome to country.

I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.

And they were joined by Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen, who is deeply on the nose and hoping, of course, to win over the large Indian community in her state.Allen was also effusive, bragging that Victoria had a larger Indian population than anywhere in the country.Now, before I go any further, I want to make sure that we're all very clear here.I don't want to be misunderstood.Australians of Indian heritage are great contributors to our community.They are hardworking and enterprising.

They put a massive value on education.Their kids do phenomenalwell in school, and they are happily seriously underrepresented in crime statistics.But that said, does anybody else find it a little weird that our Australian Prime Minister hosted a political rally for a foreign leader on Australian soil, particularly someone like Modi, who is frankly often criticized for his brand of Hindu nationalism.I thought we might do a little thought experiment here.Think about this.

Imagine if Nigel Farage, a great, if controversial, exponent of British nationalism, well, imagine if he becomes Prime Minister of the UK at their next general election.Then think about this, well, there is a huge British population here in Australia too.But does anyone imagine that whomever the Prime Minister of the day is, could it be Albanese, Taylor, Pauline Hanson, do you think that they would get away with holding a rally for them?on Australian soil?I'm not so sure.And the reason why I am not sure, and the reason why I think there is such a debate right now over this whole issue of multiculturalism, monoculturalism, Australian identity, why this debate is so poignant right now, is precisely because Australians see the way, under Labour's version of multiculturalism, other cultures, other nationalities are celebrated, elevated, even with political rallies, even as their own culture is run down or denigrated.

I want to bring you a little bit here of Victoria's Premier, Jacinta Allen, who I mentioned before.Here's a bit of what she had to say at the rally.

Let me say this to Victoria.

Yeah, you see the issue here?I mean, this is where Tony Abbott goes when he talks about the problem of an immigration program that encourages people to treat Australia more like a hotel than a home.And this is why I am concerned, and why I think Australians are a bit concerned, because Not only does this feel like blatant ethnic politicking, and I guess in some ways there's nothing new there, but I would say that perhaps a few people owe Jacinta Price maybe a little bit of an apology, because this was absolutely about Labour courting ethnic votes.But also think of the message.Think about what Jacinta Allen is saying there.It sounds very much like, come to Australia, but you don't need to bother.

becoming full members of the Australian community, the Australian mainstream, which, of course, is welcoming of people from all over the world.Instead, it's saying you can live within your own communities, do your own thing.I mean, the word assimilation has gone out the window a long time ago, but this here, what we're talking about, I'm sorry, this is not a recipe for social cohesion.It's a recipe for ethnic separatism and ghettoization.I don't think anybody wants to see that.Now there's a bit more that was funny about this trip.

Remember this back during the last federal election campaign when labor was running a scare campaign around nuclear energy?leading heavily on the Simpsons' Blinky the Three -Eyed Fish?And how many times have you heard Energy Minister Chris Bowen say lines like this?This is apparently the Labour position.Nuclear power is scary and it's expensive.It's the most expensive form of energy.

Again, at least according to Labour during the last federal election campaign.And yet on this trip, Modi and Albanese agreed for Australia to export uranium to India for use in their civilian nuclear power program.Huh, that's kind of funny.Think about the contradiction here.On the one hand, We are told that nuclear power is too expensive for a rich country like Australia, but it's just jake for a developing country like India.What are we doing here?

How does this make sense?And it's all the more interesting when you recall that back in 2011 at the Federal Labor Caucus that year, Anthony Albanese opposed the then -Gillard government's move to lift a ban on exporting uranium to India.It certainly changed his tune, hasn't he?Now, look, I'm glad we've found a bit of the mining industry labor is not rushing to kneecap by jumping on ancient woo about blue banded bees or whatever.But again, I ask, where is the logic?India gets cheap energy.

Yes, I said cheap from Australia via uranium.That's great.Getting closer.economic ties, visas.But what's in it for us here?I'm sorry, but it does feel like Albo has let himself and Australia get a bit played here in exchange for a blessing from a foreign leader and the big swag of votes he could potentially bring home for labor.