Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate:

1. Condemns the racist, white supremacist, and anti-immigrant rallies held over the weekend and condemns the support of and attendance at the rallies by MPs;

2. Notes:

a. That racism and anti-immigrant hate has been normalised and legitimised in this country by politicians and by the media who fan the flames of hate;

b. That dog whistling on migrants, refugees and international students by politicians of all stripes has emboldened the far-right;

c. That politicians have used hate, fear and scapegoating to cover up their own policy failures on the housing and cost of living crises; and

d. That the alarm has been sounded on far-right extremism for years and has been routinely ignored; and

3. Reiterates its solidarity with the communities who bear the brunt of white supremacy, Neo-Nazism, and right-wing extremism.

On the weekend, Neo-Nazis and far-right extremists spoke and led marches across our cities publicising their hate and racism. Thousands of people joined them in the streets to call for an end to immigration and for the expulsion of—let's face it—people of colour from Australia.

This country's violent discrimination and racism started with colonisation and has never really stopped. In Melbourne, the Neo-Nazis stormed Camp Sovereignty; it was a despicable display of white supremacy. This rampage on the weekend should be a wake-up call that you all, in this chamber and in the other one, have either downplayed or fuelled this hate and racism. The far right have been emboldened. They are loud and they are on the move. And it has been coming for a while. So let's not pretend that racism and far-right extremism are not a problem in this country. Racism is the foundation of settler colonial states. It is not new. But it has been blatantly legitimised and normalised in the media and by politicians who seek to fan the flames of hate and division, and it is this that gives Neo-Nazis succour and it is the reason that they are emboldened.

Migrants like me have been told repeatedly to put up, shut up or go back to where I come from. Is it any wonder that the far right feel that they can publicise this racism on the streets as well? For migrants like me, our belonging to this country has always been conditional—conditional on keeping our heads down and our mouths shut. While we keep agreeing with those in power and doing the hard work that no-one else wants to do, then we are 'good migrants'. But as soon as we find our voice and have the temerity to question you, all hell breaks loose and we suddenly become 'bad migrants'.

These anti-immigrant marches do not happen in a vacuum. They cause real world impact and they cause real harm. Just this morning, I received this message: 'Eff you and piss off back to Pakistan. Australia is not your home. You're not welcome here. You're an effing dog.' Last week it was this: 'Maybe we come find you, rape you, shoot you and your family dead, slice off your tits and call it resistance.' And it is not to me alone; instances of vile racist hate and violence are directed at First Nations people, migrants, refugees and people of colour every single day in this country. And it is the people in here that normalise and legitimise this hate. It is harming people. It is making their lives miserable and unsafe.

Last year Labor passed some of the most draconian anti-refugee and anti-immigration laws we have ever seen in this country. Labor scapegoats international students for a housing crisis they did not cause. Labor and Liberals, for years, have punched down on migrants and refugees, in ways not even the Liberals dreamed up. For the past two years, Labor and the coalition have been smearing and vilifying pro-Palestine activists. They have been doing that while literal Nazis are marching on the streets of this country. I do hope that that is a wake-up call for all of you to change course and do something about far-right extremism, which you have been ignoring.

Then of course there are the merchants of hate right here in this chamber—the likes of One Nation, who have nothing to offer but their racism and white supremacy, to just cause division and hate. Politicians, the media and the government—