Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'They can do whatever they want, but they'll never stop the voices of our people, because we are warriors.' These are the measured words of Uncle Herbert Bropho following the direct attack on First Nations people at Forrest Place in Boorloo, in Perth, on 26 January. Forrest Place is a historic meeting place. Protests occur there every month. Whitlam spoke there; Menzies spoke there. The attack, which was unsuccessful but potentially deadly, was an attack on people engaged in their democratic right of protest. As Minister Gorman said, an attack on our people is an attack on our democracy.

Mainstream media have not given enough attention to this or the attention it deserves. Where's the outrage? It was an attempt to kill innocent people—children, grandchildren, parents and people in wheelchairs. I thank the member for Curtin for introducing the motion to the House. As she said, it was just luck that this did not become a mass casualty event. I stand with my community in their outrage and disbelief, and I am so glad that I'm not standing here reading a condolence motion.

Many of the attendees at the rally were in fact my constituents—from Lockridge, Midland and further afield. I thank the WA police, for working with the Noongar representatives, and leaders, like Minister McCarthy and Senator Dorinda Cox, for their commitment to keeping this matter exactly where it should be: at the forefront of our minds when dealing with policy directed at preventing this from happening again. The matter is, of course, under investigation, but it's under investigation as a potential terrorist attack.

I'd also like to call attention to the online forums that are promoting hate speech, creating racial vilification and fuelling the type of behaviour that we saw carried out on 26 January. This issue extends to public-facing figures who continue to promote racial vilification for their own advancement—even members of this parliament.

The member for New England, earlier this morning, said in this place: 'Antisemitic policy—we will back it 100 per cent. We'll be at the forefront. But we've got to be focused on antisemitic issues from radical—from fundamentalist Islamic terrorists against Jewish people and not draw this net of other things.' So, for the member of New England, racism against other minority groups is just a 'net of other things'. The words do not promote unity. Rather, his words echo the hostility that is behind the Australia Day attack. The events of 26 January were an attack on our community and on all Australians, and I stand—as we all must—against this kind of hatred.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for those important words, Member for Hasluck. In accordance with standing order 193, the time for members' constituency statements has concluded.