Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice asked by Senator Cox today relating to constitutional reform.

I rise to take note of the government's response to the Greens' question on truth telling, treaty and a republic. Earlier today, Her Excellency Sam Mostyn was sworn in as the country's 28th Governor-General. I sincerely hope she will be our last. It is beyond time that we cut ties with the British monarchy and become a republic. Every second we retain ties to the British monarchy is a second too long. Every second we as a nation show collective symbolic deference to the British monarchy is a second too long. The British Empire was a cruel, racist and extractive institution which stole the lives and wealth of millions of brown and black people across the world. It bears so much responsibility for tragedy and injustice in the world today, including in Palestine. The British monarchy of today cannot be separated from that bloody legacy. It is a wholly irredeemable institution.

More and more people are seeing the British monarchy for what it is. But, while nations like Barbados are becoming republics and speaking truth about empire, the Prime Minister of Australia is taking us backwards. An allegedly staunch republican in opposition, Prime Minister Albanese has seemingly abandoned those principles. Becoming a republic is clearly not a priority for this government. Last year, Prime Minister Albanese flew to the UK for the coronation of the current King to bask in the excesses, pomp and pageantry of an institution so out of touch with everyday people. At that event, Queen Camilla wore a coronation neckless featuring the 22-carat Lahore diamond, stolen wealth from the city that I grew up in, just as the Koh-i-Noor diamond adorning the Crown Jewels was stolen from the subcontinent. The wealth looted and the lives stolen by the empire from colonised countries are truly staggering, yet wilful delusion about the monarchy remains. This delusion exists to maintain white supremacy and to make beneficiaries of colonialism feel comfortable at the expense of its victims.

Well, I won't participate in that delusion. Truth about empire is crucial. Two centuries of rule over most of the Indian subcontinent, where I come from—first through the violent and rapacious East India Company and then through the Crown itself, the British Raj—decimated the economy and caused the deaths of so many. They destroyed thriving local industries like textiles and shipbuilding through violence, taxes and import tariffs. They taxed locals at exorbitant, unprecedented rates and, through torture and cruelty, stole vast wealth which they shipped off to England. Reparations have never been paid for the British Raj's barbarism, and much of the loot is still shamelessly held, including in the form of diamonds in the Queen's crowns or treasures in British museums.

Of course, this nation has experienced and continues to experience colonialism in its bloodiest form. Since the violent invasion of 1788—which, astoundingly, this country continues to celebrate—First Nations people have been murdered, have been separated from their families, have had their children stolen and have had their land and water, which they carefully cared for for thousands of years, slowly but surely being destroyed. We need to recognise that this violence, oppression and discrimination against First Nations people has never ceased. It continues to this day in the settler colonial systems and structures of this country. The depth and breadth of prejudice against First Nations people is still rooted in law enforcement, societal attitudes and institutional systems. We need to move towards reparations, justice and self-determination for First Nations people. We also desperately need to progress on truth-telling and move towards treaties. It is our moral duty. Shamefully, though, Australia is one of the only Commonwealth countries without a treaty with First Nations peoples. We must forge a new path—one that reckons with its colonial past, one that moves us forward on justice for First Nations and one that turns our back on the British empire. May the new Governor-General be our last. It's time for truth-telling and treaties, it's time to become a republic, and it is way past time to cut our ties with the British monarchy.

Question agreed to.