Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong warns of the dangers of division

In a week of heated debate about racism and the security risk for visa processing for Palestinian refugees, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong, warned of the lasting effects of “fearmongering” rhetoric. 

Delivering the Centre for Asian Australian Leadership’s inaugural annual lecture at The Australian National University (ANU), Minister Wong touched on the role of Asian-Australian leadership and shared reflections on her own experiences. 

“Asian-Australians, particularly those of my generation and earlier, will be all too familiar with a narrative of immigrant as burden, of immigrant as peril, a drain on resources, a threat to cohesion,” Minister Wong said. 

“We saw it from Mr Howard in the 1980s when he called for a reduction in Asian immigration – and I will never forget that or the toll it took on my family.  

“And we do see it from Mr Dutton again today.” 

Peter Dutton, the leader of the Opposition, has called for a blanket ban on visas for Palestinians fleeing Gaza, saying they represent an unspecified “national security risk”. These comments have been widely condemned.  

Minister Wong stated that politicians have a responsibility to consider the implications of their language, and not simply seize any political opportunity.  

“We all know where these words land, we know what communities hear,” Minister Wong said. 

“I believe fearmongering is damaging to our community, but I also believe it is a lost opportunity for our country – the opportunity of being more unified to avoid reproducing conflicts here.” 

The pressures of being first

Minister Wong has earned many ‘firsts’ across her political career. She is Australia’s first minister of Asian-Australian heritage to serve in cabinet, the first openly gay Australian federal parliamentarian and the longest-serving cabinet minister in the history of the Australian Parliament. 

“What’s implicit in being the first, is being the only.”

Minister Penny Wong

But Minister Wong said that achieving these milestones would have been “as fantastic as fiction” to her as a kid growing up in Adelaide. Her decision to pursue politics was partially due to her own experiences with racism. 

“There are many ways people respond to those kind of experiences; I chose to work for change, and seeking election was part of that choice,” Minister Wong said. 

“I remember how it felt in my early political career. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was intimidating – I’m not easily intimidated – but it certainly felt daunting to so often be the first. Because what’s implicit in being the first, is being the only.” 

She added that for a number of years, the only Asian faces she saw within Parliament House were the cleaners and one woman who worked in the Parliamentary library. Being one of the few Asian parliamentarians came with what she called the responsibility to make space for more diverse faces – and the pressure to not “stuff it up” for others who may come after. 

“I always knew there were mistakes that some politicians could in their stride, but that these weren’t the kind of mistakes I could get away with,” Minister Wong said. 

“And yet, the upshot of trying not to make mistakes was that, at times, I was criticised for being robotic or wooden or cold.  

“I suspect the same people who said that would have pounced somewhat gleefully on any misstep to question my competence … it took some time for those judgments to mellow.” 

Recognising our value

Minister Wong highlighted that the challenges facing Australia – including rising authoritarianism, climate change and the growing intersection of security and economics – would all require more effective engagement with Asia. 

“Australia, put simply, has to be more effective and more capable in our region,” she said. 

“Like any engagement, it is more effective if we meet countries where they are … and we have a huge advantage in that task, quite simply, because of who we are – a model multicultural nation, home to the oldest continuing civilization in the world, and more than 300 ancestries reflecting every corner of our world.” 

Minister Wong announced a suite of changes aimed at increasing Australia’s Asian literacy, including adjustments to the New Colombo Plan commencing in 2025. This includes removing program caps, doubling long-term scholarships, and introducing a new language stream. 

Beyond Asian literacy, she argued that Australia’s cohesion will allow us to seize opportunities as our surrounding region is expected to grow in economic power. 

“It relies on maintaining our cohesion as a people, or not letting reckless politicians divide us for political gain. It relies on the contribution of all Australians, of all diasporas working together,” Minister Wong said. 

“It relies on respect, not vilification, and it relies on all of us recognising each other’s value and all of us knowing that the whole is greater than the sum of our parts.”