Tom Uren's Speech to Palm Sunday March

I am honoured and proud to be with you today. The last time I spoke at a Palm Sunday Rally was in 1991, following the conflict in Iraq.

I fully endorse the ideals of this gathering - Compassion for Refugees, Peace and Justice - and the principles to achieve those ideals, as set out in the pamphlet:

We all have the human right to live in peace, with justice and equality, AND THAT INCLUDES ALL ASYLUM SEEKERS.

Close detention centres, on shore and off shore

House asylum seekers in the community

Global programs to help people fleeing war and persecution

We condemn terrorism, by any person, group or government. War is not a solution. Many of us believe we should reject all forms of violence.

Resolve international conflicts through the United Naitons

Use national and international courts to bring terrorists to justice

No new nuclear arms race - end Australia's role in the nuclear cycle

Oppose the threat to civil liberties in proposed anti-terrorism legislation

Address poverty, racism, environmental destruction and inequality

I particularly want to endorse the closing of detnetion cnetres, both onshore and offshore. We should end the "Pacific solution" and stop wasting our money - $500 million has already been expended this financial year.

Let me express my abhorrence of the Howard Government's treatment of the asylum seekers during the recent Federal election and the negativity of the Labor Party's approach to this matter. It is an understatement to say I was ashamed of the "me-too-ism" position taken by the ALP on this issue.

The only Federal leader who took a moral and compassionate position on the asylum seekers during the election campaign was Senator Bob Brown. For the first time in my 50 years as a member of the Labor Party, I publicly worked and supported a non-Labor candidate in a Federal election. I am proud that the Tasmanian electors responded to Bob Brown's leadership and elected him overwhelmingly even though both major political parties isolated him in the distribution of their preferences.

Bob Brown is a person with Nelson Mandela qualities. Australia needs people with bob's values in public life. I am proud that progressive people in the Labor Party are beginning to speak publicly on the asylum seekers - Tanya Plibersek and Carmen Lawrence are providing that leadership.

I was elected to the Federal Parliament in 1958. Both the Menzies Government and the Federal Labor Party has a "White Australia" policy. Due to the struggle of progressive forces within our Party we were able to discard this policy platform at our Federal Conference in 1965. In 1966, the Holt Government took the first step to abolish it in the Australian Parliament. During 1972-1975, we in the Whitlam Government helped to refine it.

From 1975 the leadership of the major political parties worked to an objective of trying to break down prejudice on race, religion and creed.

It was not until 1967 that Australia recognised that our Aboriginal people existed in this country. Their struggle for justice is a continuing one.

The "White Australia" policy was first introduced in the new Federal Parliament in 1901. After 1966 there were people in the community who were sceptics of the policy change. After all, our people were fed for generations on the fear of the Asians to our north. But no political leader played up to those sceptics or insecure people. From 1975 until the Tampa, our immigration policy was non-partisan on race, colour and creed.

What deeply disturbs me is that John Howard knowlingly pandered to a sector of our community who are racially prejudiced or who are religiously opposed to Muslim refugees. Howard knew the "Hansonites" he was pandering to.

He may have achieved a short-term victory but he will carry the scar of his role in the divisiveness of our nation the rest of his political days. He inflamed the election debate by introducing false allegations of children being thrown overboard by asylum seekers and of parents of refugees sewing their children's lips together. We are all familiar with his inflammatory words, "we will decide who comes into our country".

We don't have to dig too far back in our own history to find bigotry and sectarianism. In the 1920s and 30s if you were a Catholic and you were seeking employment in the private sector, you had to identify your religion on an employment application. Except in rare cases, Catholics were not employed in the private sector, they were employed in the State and Federal public service. Luckily those days are over but we must put those years in perspective.

We must overcome prejudice and hate and oppose the dividing of our society. Martin Luther King put it clearly when he said that, "Hate is always tragic, it distorts the personality and scars the soul. It is more injurious to the hater than it is to the hated." Ever since my army days, I have contended that there is no progress in hate. Our Movement must ensure that in this country people of Muslim faith or of Asian background are treated with tolerance, understanding and respect.

Let me now turn to the peace and justice aspect of our commitment. If we examine what is occurring on our planet, it is obvious that we are in very troubled times. I have not been more worried and disturbed with world events since the Cuban crisis of October 1960 and when the United States forces were in Viet Nam during the mid 1960s and early 70s. My deep concern occurred even before the events of September 11, which all sane human beings condemn as a crime against humanity.

President George W Bush's Administration is a worrying one. This is not an anti-American statement. The facts speak for themselves. President Bush, his Vice President, Dick Cheney, the Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, his Deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and the Attorney General, John Ashcroft, are all zealot christian fundamentalists. President Bush's statement that America's mission is a "crusade" is very true - he is on a Christian crusade. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is the only rational member of the Bush Administration.

Our concern should not only be about the Christian fundamentalists but also the Muslim fundamentalists, Jewish fundamentalists and Hindu fundamentalists. But it is the power, influence and purity of the Bush Administration that worries me the most.

They have taken so many dogmatic approaches and decisions:

they have walked away from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia;

they will not consider Kyoto's global warming protocol; and

they reject the International Court for crimes agaisnt humanity.

There are so many individual decisions and positions of isolation that they have taken.

The Bush Administration have identified a number of nations where there can be a nuclear strike. These include Russia, China, Iran and Iraq. Elements within the Administration seek to resume nuclear testing, stating that there are "new contigencies" when nuclear weapons might be necessary.

History has now revealed that President Nixon wanted to use neclear weapons in Viet Nam in 1972.

President Bush recently announced details of his war time defence budget for 2003. The Presidnet proposes a total expenditure of US$379 billion, that is A$730 billion. It amounts to a US$48 billion (or A$92 billion) increase in US defence spending over the previous year and more than A$440 billion from the amount spent five years ago. The magnitude of this expenditure is greater than the total defence expenditure of the next nine leading economies which include countries such as Russia, China, Japan, Britain, France and Germany.

In a statement on 4 February 2002, he said that it is necessary "to protect our nation and invest tax dollars wisely".

Our Movement is united in the opinion that force of arms is not he solution toworld events. We need national and international courts to bring terrorists to justice. Violence and war only creates more violence. World leaders need to examine other alternatives.

When George W Bush was elected President of the United States, former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev wrote a letter to him where he said, in part, that: It is time for America's electorate to be told the blunt truth: that the present situation in the US, by which a part of its population is able to enjoy a life of extraordinary comfort and privilege, is not tenable over the long run as long as an enormous portion of the world lives in abject poverty, degradation and backwardness.

We in Australia need to examine our role of serving our people who are less privileged, including our indigenous people but we also have a commitment to the underprivileged of our planet. Above all, we should work for a more tolerant, equitable and just society.