???Labor senator Sam Dastyari has told the next generation of his party the left of politics needed to resist turning a blind eye to extremism, and it was time for Australia to start a conversation on faith.
Eschewing the rule not to discuss politics and religion, Senator Dastyari said it was time his party did both, recognising that religious extremism was just as dangerous as white nationalism, while shifting the focus from "what people believe, to how they believe".
Senator Dastyari said Nationals MP George Christensen should have been congratulated for expressing regret he appeared on an Australian alt-right podcast, run by a group attempting to bring white supremacist and accused neo-Nazi Mike Enoch, to its conference, and for advocating his ban from Australia.
But he said the conversation was often dominated by the black and white views of what people thought someone's beliefs meant, rather than the more grey area of how they practiced them. Here, he said, Labor had a "big job" to do.
"We need to call out extremists, whatever they are, whoever they are, and not shy away from it," he said.
"And to do that, we need to keep the pressure on those who facilitate the extremists, and that means Pauline Hanson and One Nation.
"Senator Hanson does not directly preach hate, she is not an extremist, but her dance partners on the right are. She cleverly keeps one step away while facilitating the groundwork for some of the most awful, despicable, hate-mongers Australia has seen. She validates them, she empowers them and she does all of this with her eyes open.
"The same happens on the Left, where intellectuals will turn a blind eye to practises in the name of religion, that go against our values.
"As the next generation of Labor activists, we need to reach out."
Senator Dastyari, who considers himself a non-practising Muslim, said Australia risked seeing the same divide as America if politicians could not reach across the political divide and find common ground.
"To combat the real danger that is out there, extremism, in all its forms, we need to reach out to everybody," he said.
"We all believe in something. We define our actions, our principles, around a set of values. Some believe in a deity, a god - it might be Christian, Hindu, Muslim or Jewish. But it doesn't have to be a religion.
"Some have set their lives in the pursuit of money, others for power. Some decide to put that energy towards charity, towards helping people, others don't.
"What matters is not what you believe, but how extreme you are in the pursuit of those beliefs.
"The enemy is not Islam, just as it is not nationalism. The enemy is extremism."
