When he was immigration minister, Peter Dutton raised a lot of hackles with this comment on radio, suggesting asylum seekers coming to Australia were economic migrants, not genuine refugees.
"The world's biggest collection of Armani Jeans and handbags is up on Nauru"
Mr Dutton has been re-elected to his hotly contested seat of Dickson in Queensland with what many are describing as an unexpected turn-round in the fortunes of the Liberal National Coalition, who were widely tipped to lose the Federal Election.
His hard line approach to immigration has seen him regularly clash with refugee advocates over conditions on Nauru and Manus Island and his refusal to allow asylum seekers access to medical care on the mainland.
Surinder Jain, the National Vice President of the Hindu Council of Australia says what many have been thinking when the Coalition was unexpectedly returned to power:
"Surprise! Anyone was assuming that Labor would win, and here we have the other party, the Government, winning with a big margin. It was a surprise."
Having said that, Mr Jain says within the Hindu community there have been two reactions to the news:
"Well, our community has people in both the camps. most of the new migrants, they go for Labor. But once they've bought a house and a mortgage and economics becomes important, they go for Liberals, whereas some stick with their initial loyalties. So we have people in both camps. Some are happy, some are shocked, surprised. Some are elated."
And there has been a shift in the dynamic of the new Parliament, with some of Australia's most divisive politicians unsuccessful in this election.
Some community leaders are hopeful that'll mean productive political discussions about multiculturalism.
Peter Doukas from the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia says his impression is that there has been a change in approach and he hopes the Government will seize a new opportunity.
"We believe that this Government has now an opportunity to embrace a more diverse agenda. We don't want to see a return to the rhetoric that led to the Section 18 C debates. We are hopeful that the departure of Fraser Anning and the reduction of Pauline Hanson's presence in parliament will result in a more open and accepting debate of Australian multiculturalism, so we are looking forward to working with the Government to that effect."
But Scott Morrison's population plan to cut the permanent migration program from 190,000 to 160,000 places per year has Mr Doukas worried:
"Australia's been built on immigration. Scott Morrison was an immigration minister at one point in his career and he would know as well as anyone else that the value of Australia is in its people and we would encourage the Government to review all policy which reduces our immigration impact as it has an economic impact."
Surinder Jain says that while that Australia's transition to a multicultural community over several decades has been a challenge, he feels that there is a great deal of support for it - both from political parties and from the general public.
"From monoculture to multiculturalism has been a big change in Australia. I have seen over the last forty years how things have improved for us. There's a very genuine desire in both the parties to make multiculturalism a success and most Australians are behind it."
Peter Doukas echoes Surinder Jain's thought that most Australians welcome a multicultural society, and he says he has high hopes that progress will be made with the new Parliament.
"The departure of the more extreme voices from the last Parliament is encouraging, I believe Australians are decent people, and generally we are a multicultural country and a country that is accepting of multiculturalism and we look forward to the debates that will emerge from this Parliament."
