Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Where was the harmony, where was the disrepute of this chamber when Senator Hanson racially vilified me, when both Labor and the Liberals joined up to not censure her? Now, the Federal Court has found in a very strong ruling that Senator Pauline Hanson racially vilified me and fell foul of the Racial Discrimination Act. Will you be ashamed now? Will you censure her too? You are very quick to censure a black woman, but do nothing when a brown woman is racially vilified by a colleague in this workplace. I hope you can hang your heads in shame.

It is true that the bubble of white privilege that encapsulates this parliament is a systemic issue, and that is why we are here today debating a black senator being censured for telling the truth of the British Crown's genocide on First Nations people and telling it the way that she wants to. Stop attacking and vilifying First Nations people, brown people, refugees and migrants, which is what is happening at the moment in this country. For once, sit down and listen to First Nations people. Listen to their truth and the way they want to tell it. Listen to their truth of how the British crown wreaked havoc on First Nations people here and on people of colour around the world.

The truth is the British Empire and the colonial forces have inflicted huge suffering and horrific atrocities on First Nations people, but you want to shut that down. You want First Nations people who tell their truth to shut up because you don't like the way they tell the truth. You want them to be polite. There are First Nations people who are being killed in custody. First Nations people bear the worst of racism and discrimination in this country, but that's all fine. Let's shut down a black woman who talks about it.

Truth-telling is uncomfortable. It should be uncomfortable, so feel that discomfort a bit, hear it and try and do something about it. Preserving the British monarchy is to preserve white supremacy and the systemic racist structures that were built by the empire and that persist and that harm, hurt and kill people to this day. You know what? It is time for this country to embrace a republic which is rooted in decolonisation and sovereignty for First Nations peoples, but you're not going to listen to this. You're not going to listen to people in any other way, shape or form unless we scream and shout and force you to listen. The Greens vehemently oppose this censure motion against Senator Thorpe.