Coming from the deeply multicultural electorate of Watson in Sydney, Tony Burke detests the word `tolerance`. ‘Talent and difference aren’t things to be tolerated,’ he said. ‘We tolerate things that are different and celebrate diversity not out of some social justice principle but because that is how we get the best out of everybody.’
The new Arts Minister delivered this opinion as part of whirlwind press-flesh-and-reassure tour in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. Burke was parachuted into the Arts portfolio on Monday after the removal of popular Arts Minister Simon Crean last week, just after he delivered the long awaited National Cultural Policy.
