Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to thank the member for Curtin for bringing this important motion to the House and to Senator Thorpe for bringing the motion in the other place. I commend this motion, and I condemn the attempted bombing attack on First Nations people on 26 January in Boorloo, Perth. This was a deliberate and terrifying act designed to murder innocent people—innocent, ordinary Australian people. And it is rightly being investigated as a potential act of terrorism. Every Australian should pause and sit with what could have happened when this homemade bomb was hurled into a peaceful rally. As a nation, we should be outraged. I'm outraged. Around 2,500 people had gathered peacefully for an Invasion Day rally. This is not a one-off event. This is an event that happens year after year.

If that device had detonated, the consequences would have been catastrophic. We've heard from the member for Curtin and the member for Perth, representing those constituents who could relate so meaningfully what this could have meant in their communities. This could have meant that we saw a massacre of peaceful protesters on a day that is already one of deep mourning for many First Nations Australians. And make no mistake—this was an act of hate. This was an act with racist overtures. This was an attack on First Nations people, and therefore it was an attack on all Australians. An attack on peaceful process strikes at the very heart of our democracy. It's appalling, and I think that this House is right today to speak of what could have been the most dreadful atrocity but what was an absolute and appalling act of hate.

The date of 26 January, for many First Nations people, is one that marks dispossession, one that marks loss and deep grief and one that marks injustice. We must be a nation that comes together, not a nation that seeks to tear each other apart. I acknowledge the profound harm this incident has caused, and I express solidarity with everyone impacted, particularly our First Nations brothers and sisters, Australians who live daily with the threat of harm and with daily acts of prejudice and racism—many small, some big—because truly there is no place for violence or racism in Australia. There truly isn't. But what we're seeing really chills us, and this act on 26 January certainly reinforced that sense of dread.

I echo the motion's calls on governments at all levels to continue to take urgent action. It's been said many times this afternoon that we can't just use words; we must use the actions that we've formulated to address racism, discrimination, hate speech and violence against First Nations people. That action must be urgent. We have a framework that's been constituted already. It needs to be activated at its fullest level.

My words are brief today because I know others wish to express their sorrow and condemn this act of violence on 26 January. It's important that we do so, but, most importantly, we must act. Anything else would be a failure of our responsibility and ultimately a failure of our humanity.

See this speech in context