Senator Lidia Thorpe tables 400,000-signature petition to treat attack on Camp Sovereignty as hate crime

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Calls are mounting to treat August's attack on a Melbourne First Nations protest camp as a hate crime. Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe had tabled a petition with 400,00 signatures calling for a full inquiry.

Transcript

00:00It's caused fear in our community. I know that children didn't want to go to school

00:09after that attack because of the ripple effect that that has through families and communities.

00:18We know that racism is real in this country and the racist neo-Nazi attack was a good

00:28example of how bad it can be against our people. Why bring fear into our lives, into our children's

00:41lives and then possibly only get a slap on the wrist for those actions? Those actions

00:49were premeditated. That was a sophisticated, organised attack on a sacred site, a site

00:58of peace and a site where we gather to bring people together, to have a yarn. It's a site

01:08where 38 nations are buried, so it's a burial site. It's a place where we have the dawn service

01:16every year. So it's a known sacred site that was desecrated and there needs to be, you know,

01:28it needs to be taken very seriously.

01:29Yeah, so you've tabled a petition in Parliament with hundreds of thousands of signatures from

01:33Australians. You said you want a full inquiry. What are you calling for in terms of action

01:39from federal authorities? Well, it needs to be called for what it is and that is a hate

01:45crime. These perpetrators, these neo-Nazis, are given lenient charges that will mean not

01:56much at all. We need to send a clear message to the rest of this country that this is a hate

02:04crime. And neo-Nazi attacks are not tolerated. So, you know, the Prime Minister needs to come out

02:13also and back the federal police to investigate this as a hate crime, to charge these neo-Nazis for

02:22hate crimes. We know that if it was an attack on a synagogue or a mosque, then this would be a hate

02:30crime. Now, it's an attack on the oldest continuing living culture on the planet. It is clearly a hate

02:38crime. And that's what over 400,000 signatures have signed up to, to pressure this government

02:46to take it more seriously. You know, why are we treated lesser than in this case?

02:51And you've been joined by some crossbench colleagues in writing to federal authorities?

02:57That's right. And crossbench in terms of senators and independents in the House of Representatives.

03:07So, you know, there's a lot of support for this to be taken more seriously as a hate crime.

03:15The AFP need to investigate this and stop asking me for more evidence. I mean, the world saw the

03:24attack. It went viral. And the evidence is there. I've spoken to victims of that assault,

03:32a teacher who had her nose broken. So the evidence is there. I can't understand why it is not

03:41investigated and taken more seriously.

03:43I mean, have you had any briefings from federal or state authorities as to why that may not have

03:48happened? Has there been an unmet threshold? What's been the explanation when you've sought one?

03:54Yes, I've had one meeting about this with state and federal police who have indicated that it

04:01doesn't meet the threshold. But I haven't been given information as to why it doesn't meet the

04:09threshold. What meets the threshold given, as I said earlier, if it was a mosque or a synagogue,

04:15where, you know, it's an attack on a place, we had people assaulted, seriously assaulted,

04:25and our place of worship attacked. So I feel like they're just skirting around taking this on.

04:35I'm not sure why they are backing a neo-Nazi organisation and why the neo-Nazis were allowed

04:43to march on up to Camp Sovereignty, fully armed and dangerous, to commit the crimes that they did.

04:52All right. Well, several people have been charged. So we await to see what happens in the courts.

04:58Liddy Thorpe, thank you very much for your time on the show this morning.

05:02Thanks for having me.

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