David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Sunday, hundreds will gather at the town hall in Sydney to mark and acknowledge that it's 15 years since the brutal Mullivaikkal massacre that occurred during the closing stages of the war on Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. In May 2009, Mullivaikkal, an internationally declared no-fire zone, was attacked, and tens of thousands of Tamils, many civilians, many under the cover of the Red Cross, were killed by the Sri Lankan military. A hundred and seventy thousand Tamils were killed in the closing years of that brutal conflict.

The people responsible for these crimes remain in senior positions of leadership within the Sri Lankan military and government. To this day Tamils are still unsafe and fear persecution, and many have sought refuge in other countries, including Australia. Our nation should open our hearts to those Tamils who are here and give them a permanent, welcoming home. We will not forget, and May 2024 marks a moment for the mourning of the dead.

Yesterday I was honoured to meet with Farhad Bandesh and Piumi Kaneshan, people who came to Australia seeking to build a better life and instead have been met with cruelty by this government. The most recent round of cruelty is the Albanese Labor government's Trump-style travel ban and antirefugee bill.

I can say this clearly: for Farhad Bandesh and Piumi Kaneshan and the thousands of others who are being threatened by the bill, this is their home. The Albanese government went into the last election saying they were going to be a different kind of government than the coalition. We now know that actually that means a crueller government, one that deliberately whips up fear and division against and amongst multicultural communities in a cynical attempt to hide their own failings. It won't work. Across the board, the community is saying clearly that this appalling bill and Labor's toxic politics that fester in their conflict with the coalition in this space need to end.