House debates

Thursday, 4 February 2016

Statements by Members

Indigenous Affairs

1:42 pm

Photo of Matt ThistlethwaiteMatt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

I wish to condemn NIL Entertainment, the creators of an app game called Survival Island 3 in which players are warned to beware of Aborigines and are encouraged to shoot and kill Aboriginal people depicted as hostile savages. This app was published by Apple, Google Play and Amazon. Thankfully, all subsequently withdrew the app and refused to publish it any longer. But they should never have published it in the first place. The app is clearly racist. It is extremely disrespectful of Aboriginal Australians and their connection to this land for tens of thousands of years. It encourages stereotypes that our nation must move beyond if we are going to have true reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

No race or group of people deserve to be depicted in these terms, particularly not a group of people who throughout history have been dispossessed of their lands, had their children removed from their care and continue to suffer discrimination, poor health and educational outcomes; and whose men are 15 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Aboriginal strands. I wish to congratulate Gadigal woman Georgia Mantle, who started an online petition that garnered 60,000 signatures and lead to Apple and the like taking this game down. Thank you, Georgia, for standing up for Aboriginal people. But the fact is you should not have had to. This app should never have been published. (Time expired)