A right-wing senator’s speech thanking ‘young brown men’ for delivering his groceries, pizzas and online purchases has been slammed as ‘condescending’.
The Liberal Democrats David Leyonhjelm took to the Senate on Tuesday night where he praised the men for ‘not whinging about a brown pay gap’.
He said he wanted to use the speech to give thanks to ‘a group of Australians who may be ignored or worse but who make a great contribution’ to the nation.
‘Let me say thank you to Australia’s young brown men,’ Senator Leyonhjelm, from New South Wales, told parliament.
Senator David Leyonhjelm (pictured) thanked ‘Australia’s young brown men’ in a speech to parliament on Tuesday
‘The young brown men I come across in my day-to-day life are often in low-paid jobs. They drive me in their Ubers and taxis. They deliver my online purchases, my groceries and my pizza.
‘They serve me at my local 7-Eleven, at my local service station and at my local restaurants.’
Senator Leyonhjelm said the migrants had only been been in Australia for about a decade but were ‘giving it a go, just like previous generations of young migrants’.
‘Australia’s young brown men are typically the ones who turn up their sleeves in the face of jobs that many other Aussies would turn up their noses at or would not turn up at all for,’ he said.
‘They do all this without whinging about a brown pay gap, even though, if there were any data, it would show a gap that is absolutely huge.
‘Immigrants from greater Asia and the Middle East, both male and female, are disproportionately overrepresented in low-paying jobs in this country.’
Senator Leyonhjelm added ‘young brown men and women’ were changing the face of Australia and that was a good thing.
‘Roughly half of our immigrant community is brown, so I have no qualms in repeating my thanks to the young brown men and women of Australia. Thank you,’ he said.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi (pictured) took to her Facebook page to slam Senator Leyonhjelm’s speech, calling it ‘condescending’
Senator Faruqi said in her Facebook post she would ‘like to give Senator Leyonhjelm the benefit of the doubt in being sincere’
Senator Leyonhjelm (pictured) said he wanted to use the speech to give thanks to ‘a group of Australians who may be ignored or worse but who make a great contribution to Australia’
‘Through your hard work, you are doing what Australians have always done and, in the process, changing the complexion of Australia for the better.’
But Greens’ Senator Mehreen Faruqi took to her Facebook page to label the speech ‘condescending’.
‘I’d like to give Senator Leyonhjelm the benefit of the doubt in being sincere about his concern for migrants, but condescending speeches don’t help,’ she wrote.
‘Migrants aren’t sitting here plugging away passively waiting for the world to change, we are actively challenging racism and demanding our rights.’
The speech also sparked a backlash on Twitter.
Senator Leyonhjelm’s speech on Tuesday was heavily criticised on social media
‘I just rolled my eyes so hard they nearly fell out of their sockets,’ one person wrote.
Senator Leyonhjelm was last week embroiled in controversy when Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young delivered a stinging speech to parliament.
He was one of four senators named by Senator Hanson-Young in a blistering attack on male politicians over ‘slut shaming and bullying’.
She said Senator Leyonhjelm, along with Barry O’Sullivan, Fraser Anning and Cory Bernardi, were ‘not fit to call yourselves men’.
In late June, Senator Hanson-Young became involved in a confrontation with Senator Leyonhjelm during a debate in parliament about whether women should be allowed to carry pepper spray or tasers to defend themselves.
Senator Leyonhjelm believed he heard Senator Hanson-Young say words to the effect of ‘all men are rapists’ in parliament – which she denies.
Senator Leyonhjelm told her to ‘stop shagging men’ in response.
Senator Hanson-Young later accused him of ‘slut shaming’ her and using ‘sexist slurs’ in parliament. She has launched legal action against Senator Leyonhjelm.
He also sparked outage in July for refusing to apologise to television host Angela Bishop after calling her a ‘bitch’.
Senator Leyonhjelm had appeared on Studio 10 where he called the veteran journalist a ‘bigot’ and refused to apologise several times when prompted by co-host Sarah Harris.