Spot the difference

People are entitled to attack the present immigration levels without being branded as bigots or racists…

I also made another point which my detractors have sought to ignore…and that is that people who exercise free speech have an obligation to do so in a sensitive and caring fashion.

But it has also been my credo that, if someone disagrees with the prevailing orthodoxy of the day, that person should not be denigrated as a narrow-minded bigot.

John Howard, 8 October 1996

I’d like to sweep away any sense that people should close down any debate, including this debate, through a sense of self-censorship or political correctness…

For people to say they’re anxious about border security doesn’t make them intolerant, it certainly doesn’t make them a racist, it means that they’re expressing a genuine view that they’re anxious about border security.

By the same token people who express concern about children being in detention, that doesn’t mean they’re soft on border protection, that just means that they’re expressing a real human concern.

Julia Gillard, 4 July 2010