When Times Are Tough, We Need To Fight For The Truth To Be Told
BY ADAM BANDT
Leader of The Australian Greens
It’s time to speak truth to power.
It’s been a tough few weeks after the results of the referendum on the Voice to Parliament and the atrocities in the Middle East.
Let’s start with the referendum. Following a Trumpian misinformation campaign, led by Peter Dutton, we now urgently need to tell the truth.
The morning after the ‘No’ result was known, Senator Dorina Cox and I called for the government to establish a Truth and Justice Commission and for a recommitment to Treaty based on recognising First Nations sovereignty.
In countries like Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, truth telling processes have played a vital part in healing.
In 2021, Victoria established the Yoorrook Justice Commission in May 2021 to hear, record and address the truths about First Peoples’ experience of colonisation in Victoria from 1788 till now, and it has the powers of a Royal Commission.
A national committee, with similar powers, is critical to support the state and local processes.
We need truth and treaty. We also need to defeat Peter Dutton.
Peter Dutton, the man who walked out of the apology to stolen generations, has sought to obtain more power by punching down on oppressed and vulnerable people his whole career, has sought to exploit people with misinformation and sowed fear and division.
He’s now seeing his path back to power as attacking first nations people, like the Liberals did during the NT intervention, and we have to call it out and fight it.
We also need to speak the truth about the invasion of Gaza.
The Greens reject and condemn all forms of violence, especially against civilians, and we immediately condemned Hamas’ attacks and have called for the hostages to be released. We mourn the 1400 Israelis and others who were killed in the attacks and since, and we also mourn the over 4000 Palestinaians who have been killed in the subsequent invasion of Gaza.
In Gaza, over 2 million people are walled in to an area about half the size of Canberra. Almost half of the people in Gaza are children. They are being starved and dehydrated, their hospital system is about to collapse and now they are being bombed by a powerful military. UN officials have said that Palestinian civilians are being collectively punished.
We oppose the invasion of Gaza. We are calling for the end of the invasion of Gaza and an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Instead of backing the invasion, Australia should be part of an international push for peace and de-escalation. Hundreds of thousands of people are now taking to the streets as part of a global push for peace, and the Greens will push our government to join them.
This is a deeply painful time for Palestinian and Jewish communities, many of whom are watching these atrocities with fears for the lives of their loved ones. We must meet this moment with humanity.
Our movement will resist war. We fight for peace. We will speak truth to power.