Refugees and asylum seekers
Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (13:56): It has now been over 40 days since an encampment protest began – and it continues – outside the home affairs office as thousands of people seeking asylum and refuge plead for the right to be able to live a peaceful life free from war, torture and persecution and be granted permanent visas. On Friday I joined them at another powerful rally that saw hundreds of the Melbourne community join with them in solidarity and to bear witness to their struggle. During their 40 days of peaceful protest they have also been targeted by racists and neo-Nazis. It is no wonder that the far right feel emboldened to march down the streets with posters saying ‘Eff off we’re full’ and ‘Australia for the white man’ when the likes of Peter Dutton, the opposition leader of this country, have once again over the last weeks dog whistled to demonise and stereotype people seeking asylum and refuge as a threat. This time his target was the Palestinian people fleeing a genocide in Gaza. These are people that need safety and protection in their time of greatest need. Instead both the Liberal and Labor parties are continuing the race to the bottom when it comes to immigration policy in this country by continuing to scapegoat migrants and refugees and denying people permanency. The far-right extremist movement is on the rise across Australia. It is a reason why the Greens pushed for an inquiry into how we stop this racism and hatred, yet the Victorian government is not doing enough to implement the recommendations of that inquiry. Until the dog whistling stops about refugees and until we do more to counter the rise of the far-right extremists, these neo-Nazis are going to continue to parade down our streets and create fear and violence. We must show compassion in the face of this racist scapegoating.