ROWLAND CONDEMNS LIBERALS’ RACIST COMMENTS ON INDIAN-AUSTRALIANS

In Parliament today, the Federal Member for Greenway, Michelle Rowland, condemned offensive Liberals insults about Subcontinent Australians. Following last night’s investigation into Victorian Liberal branch stacking, Labor called on the Prime Minister to take responsibility for the offensive insults used to describe IndianAustralians by members of the Liberal Party.

“It exposes this Government’s shallow approach to a people and a country that gives so much to Australia and with whom we must build an economic relationship that is bigger and deeper”, Ms Rowland said. This is not the first time this year that Liberal members have expressed racist attitudes towards subcontinent communities.

In February 2020, the Treasurer used ancient Hindu practices as the punchline for a joke intending to criticise the Opposition. Following a public backlash, the Treasurer apologised only for the offence caused, but not for mocking the practices in the first place. At the time, Ms Rowland labelled the comments “offensive” and made clear that “we need to do better as a country overall… [with] a bit of respect and a bit of sensitivity”.

Subcontinent Australians are entitled to a Federal Parliament that respects both them and their contributions to Australia. Ms Rowland had earlier in the day expressed her support for a number of compassionate subcontinent organisations providing emergency assistance to Australians – including the Australian Sikh Association, The Hindu Council of Australia,

Turbans4Australia and BAPS Temple at Rosehill. “But the Liberals prefer insults to appreciating of the contributions of Indian-Australians and the compassion shown throughout COVID by different Indian communities in our suburbs”, Ms Rowland said. Labor has called on the Prime Minister to intervene and stand down the Assistant Treasurer. “If the Liberals were as focused on building the India relationship as they are on insulting Indian-Australians, we’d all be better off”, Ms Rowland said. MONDAY, 24 AUGUST 2020 MEDIA CONTACT: ADAM BOIDIN 0406 009 019