Anti-Chinese Racism A National Concern

2021-03-03

Australian Greens Anti-racism spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has expressed her serious concerns about a Lowy Institute survey which found that 1 in 5 surveyed Chinese-Australians have been threatened or attacked during the past 12 months.

Senator Faruqi said:

“There’s no doubt ‘Covid racism’ is at play here. But we should not disregard the impact of political rhetoric and the consequences of heated debate over Australia-China relations.

“When Government MPs see nothing wrong with interrogating Chinese-Australians about their allegiances in Senate committee hearings, you can be sure there are deep-seated problems with our political debate.

“It’s completely unacceptable that thousands of Chinese-Australians are being subjected to threats or attacks.

“We need the government to commit to anti-racism, not just through policy and funded programs, but also through stamping out racist rhetoric among its own MPs,” she said.