Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Let's talk about the violence black women experience every day in this colony. Nowhere is this more clear than in the way police in this country treat black women. Police do not believe us when we cry for help. They do not investigate our murders. Sometimes they are the murderers themselves. The police do not protect us. I saw this firsthand recently at a rally in Melbourne. My uncle Robbie and I were threatened by a person who is a known threat to me. He was in my face after I spoke on stage. The AFP, who were supposed to be protecting me, once again totally failed. They were asleep at the wheel. It was my community and fellow protesters who surrounded me, to help and protect me.

I wish I didn't have to seek protection from the police—the very source of violence against our people—but I have had to have security measures in place after a string of terrorist threats from Nazis. The police regularly perpetrate violence against protesters standing up for human rights and against black and brown bodies, but they are incapable of protecting them. When our safety is threatened, they function to silence us. But I will not be silenced—not by the AFP, not by any police officer in this country, not by this government, not by anybody.

The fact that a senator had a known perpetrator threaten her as she came off stage after a speech is not acceptable, and the AFP need to be held accountable. If it was a white senator, this would not happen. So where and when is the AFP going to be held accountable? (Time expired)