Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin for moving this motion and also Senator Thorpe for moving it in the other place. It is only by sheer luck that a bomb lobbed into the thick of a crowd at a peaceful rally of First Nations people in Boorloo on 26 January did not detonate, and it was only sheer luck that nobody was killed or seriously injured. This deeply disturbing event and the following response, or lack of it, raises many concerns and questions that need scrutiny and a response. The reality is a home-made bomb was thrown into a peaceful public gathering where families, elders and children were present, gathering in a way that was their democratic right to express their own views.

This was a potential mass casualty event and it was avoided not because the risks were managed but because the device failed. And yet, in the aftermath, the response from much of the political leadership and media was muted to the point of seeming indifference. Of particular note was the fact that the leader of Western Australia's opposition Liberal Party, Basil Zempilas, took three days to even mention it publicly. Where was the outrage? Where was the urgency, the clear and immediate condemnation, the sustained attention and the decisive action? Instead, there was minimisation and there was delay. It was only after First Nations leaders and communities pushed for answers that WA Police confirmed they were investigating the incident as a potential act of terrorism, but that response did not seem to happen automatically—it had to be demanded—and that should concern us.

This incident reflects how far racial hatred against our First Nations people has been allowed to mushroom, and how emboldened people now feel to act on it. The slow and muted response is also sadly indicative of the institutionalisation of racism against our First Nations people, and this incident has not happened in isolation. The attempted bombing at the Invasion Day rally at Boorloo follows a pattern of racism and violence directed at our First Nations people that so often does not make it into the media as it should and does not receive the response that it should.

Just last year in August, the Neo-Nazi attack on the Camp Sovereignty in Naarm, a sacred Indigenous site for healing, ceremony and protest, was similarly muted. Four people were injured that day, two seriously, with head injuries requiring hospitalisation. Again, this incident was initially underreported and minimised. The City of Melbourne had been warned of the potential threat against that camp, but those who made that warning received no response.

These events reflect an escalation in racism and threats against First Nations people that too often goes unnamed. Too often it is left to First Nations people themselves to fight for the recognition of the seriousness of these attacks, to ensure they are not again overlooked by the media, politicians and law enforcement, and to force a response that should have come immediately and automatically. There is a clear step that the government can take. More than a year ago, the National Anti-Racism Framework was delivered by the Australian Human Rights Commission. It sets out practical measures that can be used to address racism against First Nations peoples: truth-telling for First Nations people, support for self-determination, a nationally recognised definition for First Nations cultural safety and coordinated action across health, media, justice, the arts and data. It recognises that racism in Australia is systemic and structural. The government hasn't yet responded to this proposal, it has not yet funded the framework and it has not yet implemented it. That is a decision. If the government is serious about preventing violence against Australia's First Nations people, rather than simply reacting when it nearly costs lives, then it should urgently fund and implement the National Anti-Racism Framework in partnership with First Nations communities across the country.

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