Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Let's go back to the beginning of colonisation and understand—or try to understand, for those who refuse to accept the true history of this country—that the first people of this country were thrown off their land. They were forced off their land. They were murdered and massacred for their land. They were pushed into what we now call homelessness.

The squatters came in and illegally occupied our lands. What did the squatters receive for illegally taking our homelands? They received wealth. They built their wealth from stolen land that saw the desecration of First Nations people 200 years ago. That's where it began, with colonisation—colonisation being the evil that still exists in this country and that creates so much harm.

Today we have a situation where Aboriginal people are living on the streets, disconnected from their country, their families, their communities. We have a party over here—the Labor Party—that is selling off public housing in Victoria quicker than a fire sale. And we have a Liberal government over here that couldn't care less about the poor people in these communities and that drive past in their million dollar vehicles and see people sleeping on the street. This is a crisis, and we need action. (Time expired)