STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator THORPE (Victoria—Independent VIC Whip) (13:54): In August, a gang of racist Neo-Nazis violently attacked Camp Sovereignty, a burial place for our ancestors and a sacred site of healing, culture, connection, dance and song. These Nazis hospitalised community members. They trampled on the Aboriginal flag and desecrated our sacred site, our place of worship.

The racial hatred and white supremacy driving this attack could not be clearer. If it had been a church, a synagogue or a mosque, there would have been swift action from authorities, yet police refused to investigate this attack on our place of worship as a hate crime. The charges they've laid are minor and ignore the racial hatred behind the violence.

It is just a slap on the wrist for these racist Neo-Nazis. This is yet another example of the colony's acceptance and endorsement of ongoing violence and racism against First Peoples in this country. This afternoon, I will table a petition of over 400,000 signatures calling for the attack on Camp Sovereignty to be prosecuted as a hate crime, for a full inquiry into police failures that day and for decisive action to ensure such attacks never happen again.

I thank everyone who has signed so far, and I call on all who believe in justice to stand with us against this ongoing violence and oppression perpetrated not only by the racist Neo-Nazis but by the racist colony that we sit in right here, right now.