Australia news live: Liberal senator Andrew Bragg says he ‘strongly disagrees’ with Tony Abbott on multiculturalism

Bragg says Australia has ‘a very proud record to stand on’. Follow the latest updates live Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Liberal senator Andrew Bragg says he “strongly disagrees” with Tony Abbott after the former prime minister said that multiculturalism had “failed in Australia”. Bragg has been asked on the ABC’s Insiders about the comments made by Abbott, the current president of the Liberal party, in a video posted to social media. Well, I don’t agree with that, and I’d make the point that liberalism has actually created multiculturalism because it creates a framework for people to have freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of conscience. And the Liberal party built modern Australia, if you look at the Menzies government opening up after the war, the Holt government abolishing parts of the White Australia policy, and then, of course, Malcolm Fraser’s actions to promote multiculturalism and introduce things like the SBS. So we have a very proud record to stand on, and I think it’s very important that we’re clear about that. If we’re going to have the prosperous and progressive society that we have always wanted, that we’ve always enjoyed in Australia, we need to make sure that we have a migration program that’s delivering for our country, that’s driving productivity, not taking away from it, but restoring a White Australia policy is not part of that. Continue reading...