It鈥檚 OK to be racist in parliament, but not to call it out

November 28, 2024
Issue 
Senator Fatima Payman (centre) confronts Pauline Hanson (left) over her racism.

Pauline Hanson, the textbook definition of 鈥渨hite privilege鈥, has been using her Senate position to normalise and rehabilitate racism for many years, showing that it is acceptable to be racist in Australia鈥檚 parliament.

However, this week we鈥檝e seen a few gutsy senators of colour fighting back, at some personal cost. Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe was denied the right to enter her workplace on the last sitting day of parliament, thrown out for allegedly making the workplace 鈥渦nsafe鈥 after she ripped up a piece of paper and threw it at Hanson.

This was after Hanson launched yet another racist attack, this time on independent WA Senator Fatima Payman, accusing her of violating Section 44 of the Constitution, which covers citizenship and the right to hold a parliamentary position.

Payman was rightly furious, and tried to hand Labor鈥檚 advice on this matter to Hanson, who refused to take it.

Hanson wanted 鈥 and got 鈥 the Senate to demand Payman retract her labelling of Hanson as racist. But the 鈥渞ules鈥 allowed Payman to read Hanson鈥檚 own words back at her 鈥 all clearly racist.

We all know that Hanson is racist, but senators who object to her making the workplace unsafe for them are not allowed to call her out. Meanwhile, Labor鈥檚 Senate leader Penny Wong said 鈥渟afety at work鈥 was why Thorpe had to be suspended.

All of this took place days after the Federal Court upheld Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi鈥檚 complaint against Hanson鈥檚 social media post telling her to 鈥溾, which violated Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Thorpe told a rally on parliament lawns on November 28 that she would not be silent and, as we鈥檝e seen, neither will Faruqi or Payman.

But Thorpe did lose an opportunity to highlight, in her private Senator鈥檚 bill, the incredible power of the attorney-general having a veto on prosecuting genocide.

Thorpe wants to remove such political interference in the legal system and help victims and survivors have 鈥渁 better chance at justice鈥.

It is inspiring to see the three women senators using their parliamentary privilege to highlight how entrenched racism is in society and in that institution.

Meanwhile, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has issued a new 鈥渞oadmap鈥 to eliminate racism.

Its said racism has 鈥減rofoundly detrimental effects on people鈥檚 lives鈥, including worse health and educational outcomes, overrepresentation in the justice system, negative representation in the mass media and 鈥渃onsistent roadblocks鈥 in employment.

It made the important point 鈥 that racism will not be eliminated by policies that aim for 鈥渄iversity, equity and inclusion鈥 because they do nothing to tackle a system 鈥渂uilt to maintain white privilege鈥.

The AHRC said even though 鈥渞ace has no scientific or biological basis鈥, racism is 鈥渟ystemic鈥 and continues to have a detrimental impact on people鈥檚 lives.

Australia鈥檚 history 鈥渄efies a homogenous narrative鈥, it said, pointing to how Indonesian Muslim traders engaged with the Yolngu people as early as 1700; Jews and Africans arrived with the First Fleet; migrants from Egypt, Iran, Turkey and South Asia arrived in the 1830s; and Chinese migration surged in the 1850s.

Yet, it said, 鈥渢he fallacy of homogeny still informs how our systems and institutions operate and fails to reflect this rich, true identity of the peoples of this nation鈥.

The AHRC made 63 recommendations.

It calls on the federal government to lead a 10-year national plan, broken into 5-year segments, covering all levels of government and community organisations.

It said there needs to be an acknowledgement of the systemic and structural nature of racism, which includes truth-telling and self-determination for First Nations peoples, as well as adequate funding for programs led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations.

It鈥檚 an echo of those who said truth-telling was the first essential step during the Voice referendum, before any serious Makarrata Commission and treaty.

However, the AHRC鈥檚 recommendations may go the way of the Queensland Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry, which the Queensland is moving to close down.

Tackling racism requires a national discussion about the ongoing impact of colonisation across all institutions, including parliament. The three senators need to be congratulated in taking a lead to call it out.

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