Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – Honourable Speaker, I move –
That this House today acknowledges Aboriginal people have lived on and cared for Lutruwita Tasmania for tens of thousands of years and all non-Aboriginal people are immigrants to this island.
Recognises Tasmania is a multicultural society and migrants bring skills, perspectives and cultural diversity and offer new friendships and relationships that strengthen our community.
Notes the rallies that occurred nationwide on 31 August, shamefully calling for an end to immigration and that white supremacists were in attendance and given a platform to deliberately target Aboriginal people and migrants.
Condemns the storming of Melbourne’s ‘Camp Sovereignty’ by members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network and the violent attacks on Aboriginal people and new Australians as racist and harmful.
Understands while racism in Australia is not new, many Tasmanians, especially minority groups, were deeply distressed and felt unsafe due to the recent rallies.
Stands in solidarity with all communities targeted by these rallies.
Recognises the need to strengthen hate‑crime laws, protect anti‑discrimination laws, and develop a meaningful anti‑racism strategy in Tasmania.
Acknowledges policy and language can be used to divide and whip‑up fear or to build welcoming, inclusive communities.
And commits the House in the 52nd Parliament to resist the push of a minority to divide Tasmania and do everything within our power to represent, support and empower the thousands of Tasmanians across people, colours, places, faiths and nations that make up our diverse island community.
Honourable Deputy Speaker, the Greens understand this is a matter of deep importance to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people and to the Tasmanian community.
Deputy SPEAKER – One moment. Thank you for reading that into Hansard. Do you require a vote today?
Dr WOODRUFF – Yes, we do. Thank you.
The Greens understand this is a matter of deep importance to the Tasmanian community and because of that, we believed it was important to prioritise this question of the moment, that is really overwhelming many Tasmanians, at this first point in parliament, and to hopefully bring us together as a parliament, as a group of people who work as representatives of Tasmanians to make a commitment to working in their best interests across this term. We hope that this parliament uses the opportunity to send an important message to the communities that it is our responsibility of members of parliament to lead the community, to show solidarity and strength with the people who are targeted by these racist rallies.
We know that Aboriginal Tasmanians have lived on this island, Lutruwita for tens of thousands of years, this island that is now home to so many cultures. Respecting and celebrating each other’s differences, embracing diversity and living harmoniously is what a truly inclusive island looks like. I think we all understand that it is in our best interests as a community to act like this. It is in our best interests in our hearts as human beings to act with integrity and to be welcoming and kind to people who come to this island.
The multicultural community in Tasmania is at the heart of what makes our island so special. Tasmanians were born in 177 different countries and 172 languages are spoken in Tasmanian homes today. That’s an incredible diversity to reflect on. These are the people who were targeted by the rallies on 31 August – 50 per cent of Tasmanians had relatives who were born overseas and 30 per cent of Tasmanians were born overseas. These are very large numbers. Many of these Tasmanians understandably felt deeply distressed, unsafe and fearful when those racist rallies were held, and course they did. The leaders in their communities were resolute in the face of those anti‑immigration rallies that were held recently and they spoke very movingly about their communities. I speak from the words of the Multicultural Council of Tasmania:
Whilst a democratic society can hold many different views with freedom of speech, migrants should not be made a scapegoat or blamed for Australia’s economic or social challenges.
Tasmania is now a multicultural state and cultural diversity is one of our biggest strengths and brings many social and economic benefits to our community, making it stronger and more dynamic.
The Tasmanian Aimen Jafri, member of the Australian Multicultural Council said:
It’s a small minority of ill-informed individuals driven by hate and prejudice. I love my Tasmanian community and I have faith that they understand we need more and more migrants in our communities, whether it’s for the growing skilled jobs needed in the state or to grow our small state.
Australia and Tasmania are a multicultural place and always have been. I’ve received a lot of messages from people who’ve asked me to attend the counter‑rally saying they want to stand hand‑in‑hand with me. That’s the Tasmania I know. It’s a minority of people who are trying to divide with misinformation.
Thais Sousa, founder of Guess My Accent, which is an organisation that facilitates events for Hobart’s linguistically and culturally diverse residents said:
We encouraged our community to come together and to have a good time, not to be in public in those places. Can you imagine leaving your country, friends and sometimes your career to a move to another place for safety and new opportunities and you see these protests?
Let’s be clear and call out those rallies for what they were. Anti‑immigration is a racist sentiment and these rallies were promoted and celebrated the narrative of white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups. They resulted in racist diatribes and violence. I want to acknowledge there is a concerted effort worldwide to promote this kind of ideology. It’s not just happening here in Tasmania, Australia. There is a deliberate effort being made to sow the seeds of fear and division for far-right political purposes.
I note today there is also an even more powerful and terrifying ideology that’s being pushed through globally and the term is ‘remigration’. I quote from a piece that was published just last week by a couple of people from Deakin University and Macquarie University who’ve been tracking what’s happening globally and how it’s flowing through to Australia. They said:
The rallies staged across Australian cities under the branding ‘March for Australia’ were attended by avowed neo-Nazis and elected politicians alike.’
That is a matter of public record now, and those rallies were calling for an end to ‘mass migration’.
They say the protests aren’t unique to Australia and recently the United Kingdom saw its own wave of anti-immigration demonstrations in a number of cities. There were some claims made. They say the Australian rallies were hijacked by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network. They are deeply rooted in the far right, white nationalist ideas of remigration.
There was an ABC investigation in the lead-up to the rallies which occurred in Australian cities just a week or so ago which found that remigration was listed on the organiser’s website for the rallies as a key reason for marching, but that was later deleted from the website, according to the ABC.
The March for Australia rallies, one of which occurred in Tasmania, also received high‑profile online support from far-right figures overseas, including some infamous people like Alex Jones, Tommy Robinson, Jack Posobiec and Elon Musk. (names ok) There is evidence of all of those people massively overstating and overinflating the numbers of people who attended the rallies in Australian cities and pumping them up on their Facebook posts. This is not something that was just happening in Australia, it has been heavily supported and promoted by infamous actors overseas and it’s not the first time that Elon Musk has inserted himself in the domestic politics of a foreign country to bolster the far right. He gave large sums of money and support to the German far-right alternative party in recent elections.
The phrase ‘remigration is the only way’, was in response to posts about foreigners in the United Kingdom. Remigration refers to the idea of mass deportation of non-white immigrants to their so-called countries of origin, and the movements behind this increasingly see themselves as sharing united concerns about the defence of so-called western civilization, opposition to so-called mass immigration and the preservation of white identity.
This is a lengthy aside, but I think it’s important for us to understand in the Chamber today the forces we confront on this issue. We reject the idea of white supremacy. We reject the idea of preservation of so-called white identity or the notions of so-called western civilization. We stand for this multicultural, beautiful Tasmania that we all live in, and we must do everything we can to resist the push of bad actors who are funding, organising and fomenting hatred and division in our communities in Tasmania and in Australia. This is a role we have as members of parliament and it is an opportunity for us today to commit to how we want to work over the next term.
We can and we must choose to take another path. We should be pushing for policy and legislative reform that builds and strengthens protections for vulnerable communities, migrant communities, Aboriginal Tasmanians and other vulnerable communities that create a more supportive and inclusive society. That’s who we are, and I think we all share this in common when I look around the Chamber. When I spoke to the members about this motion, it was very clear that there was a common understanding and desire to support multicultural and Aboriginal communities who are targeted. The Greens are asking members to stand in solidarity with migrant communities and Aboriginal Tasmanians to formally reject racism and division.
I want to leave time for other people to speak, so I will finish up with your words, honourable Deputy Speaker, that you said as the Greens’ multicultural affairs spokesperson:
Everyone deserves to feel safe and welcome in our community, no matter where they come from or what they look like. No-one should be denied the opportunity to thrive. We welcome migrants and refugees as a part of what makes this place so great. Immigrants only create a richer culture and community in Lutruwita/Tasmania. Diversity should be celebrated.
I sincerely hope members will support this motion to send a statement for multicultural communities and as something that we can refer back to. Every day in this parliament we have an opportunity to represent, support and empower the thousands of Tasmanians from diverse backgrounds and multicultural communities, and we can do that in our words and actions in this place. This is one example of standing in solidarity with them.
