Predictably, debate over last weekend’s so-called “March for Australia” degenerated into a slanging match between the nation’s three major political parties in the chambers of parliament.
Situation normal.
In the usual tone-deaf response to social division, the parliament again set the example that’s being followed on the streets – when we disagree, we yell at each other. Because unfortunately, political point-scoring is paramount. The future of the nation comes second.
In the Senate, the Greens accused the Coalition of positioning itself to “platform neo-Nazis”.
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The Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie took the debate straight to Israel and Gaza, saying: “Who supported Australian Jews in your team? No one.”
Remarks from Greens senator David Shoebridge condemning the government’s latest steps on offshore detention provoked the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, who said: “You are an absolute disgrace.”
We wonder why our communities seem so angry. While the fringes are certainly the noisiest, there is anger everywhere. On social media, in the mainstream media, in politics and increasingly on the streets.
It was clear to many MPs, I’m sure, during the 2025 election campaign, that the culture wars, conspiracies and cookers who had previously predominantly occupied online spaces had metastasised into the real world.
The increasingly visible presence of “sovereign citizens” like Porepunkah’s Dezi Freeman is no surprise to me, having lived in the United States and covered four years of Donald Trump. The erosion of trust in leadership that led to the election of such a disruptor was central to my decision to enter politics.
Australia’s intelligence services have warned about the consequences of this erosion of trust for years and have repeatedly appealed to those in positions of power and influence not to inflame it.
But just like cancer, the anger, blame and hate are spreading, and the cure is elusive.
During the 2025 election campaign, for no reason other than being an MP, I was shouted at, threatened, abused. So were my campaign volunteers.
One man screamed that I was a “woke cunt” in the middle of a shopping centre. Another yelled, “I hate you; everyone hates you”, at a local crime rally that was hijacked by rightwing protesters. I was spat on, followed, doxed.
Neo-Nazis turned up at the pre-polls, intimidating voters, bellowing from a megaphone from the back of a truck. Some voters in the queue were visibly frightened and in tears.
Untruthful political advertising, designed to divide, compounds this behaviour. So does the politically motivated fanning of culture wars over immigration and, by extension, crime and housing, climate and energy policy and the active deployment of mis- and disinformation to skew public sentiment by misleading and scaring people.
Populist offerings of quick fixes are also damaging because they inevitably disappoint.
All this splinters trust. And when trust is lost, society becomes vulnerable to dark forces seeking to exploit that weakness. They exist both inside and outside our borders. Claims of recent Iranian activity on Australian soil is one example.
And yet, every sitting day in our parliament, we watch politicians verbally attack each other with minimal constructive debate.
It is one of the reasons I and a cluster of other community independents were elected in 2022, seeking to help restore civil and constructive solutions to the many problems we face.
For years we’ve seen boundaries of civility slip under Trump and other populists. Social media has become a cesspit of unaccountable abuse. And for mainstream media, conflict drives clicks.
It also drives policy at times. Labor has been guilty of shocking overreach on migration policy due to perceived political risk, repeatedly seeking to neutralise high court decisions by legislating around them at the cost of human rights.
The latest attempt to pander to the lowest common denominator – removing procedural fairness for non-citizens who have lost their visas on character grounds and deporting them to Nauru, regardless of the risks. Those who have committed crimes should be held accountable but this kind of approach merely validates anti-immigrant sentiment, and with it we lose our humanity.
It’s worth noting that the genesis of the euphemistically named March for Australia was apparently TikTok.
Social media has its upsides but any forthcoming legislated duty of care must hold the platforms accountable for managing harmful content, including transparency provisions so the way systems and algorithms spread destructive information can be seen.
We know that Elon Musk shared a post on X that exaggerated the turnout at the rallies by 10 times in the aftermath. Inevitably, many believed him.
As both the prime minister and the opposition leader have said (in a rare moment of shared thinking), there may have been good people at those awful rallies.
But were they there based on truth or lies?
Days after, the Australian Financial Review reported that tradies in Perth are now earning as much as $250,000 a year because of our chronic shortage of skilled workers.
No doubt many of those protesting about immigration also complain about the price they have to pay for a plumber, not realising that, if we don’t import them, demand will exceed supply and prices will rise.
Never underestimate the ability of people to entertain two entirely contradictory thoughts, especially if all we do is shout at each other rather than sit down and work issues through.
At the same time, we can hardly expect reasoned community conversations to bridge divides when our leaders can’t even have those constructive discussions.
Until they can, there’ll be a trust gap.
Zoe Daniel is a three-time ABC foreign correspondent and former independent member for Goldstein
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