I, and also on behalf of Senators Di Natale and O'Neill, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes with deep concern the findings of the:

   (i) Charles Sturt University's report Islamophobia in Australia 2019, which shows:

      (A) between 2016 and 2017, 349 incidents of anti-Muslim racism reported to the lslamophobia register,

      (B) severe attacks requiring hospitalisation more than doubled from 2% to 5%,

LINK TO GROUP PHOTO: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1szK9Ma5GUNF6yigYw-fzNi2bs3iYJpUk/view

Australian Greens Senator for NSW and Australia's first Muslim woman Senator, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has received more than 1.3 million signatures from a change.org petition calling for Fraser Anning to be removed from Parliament following his disgraceful comments about the Christchurch terrorist attack. The petition is by far the largest in Australian online petition history. Senator Faruqi will present it to the Senate when Parliament resumes in a few weeks. 

Dr Mehreen Faruqi, Senator for NSW, has has responded to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s disgraceful comments attacking her this morning. Senator Faruqi is the first Muslim woman to serve in any Australian Parliament and Australia’s only Muslim Senator.

Senator Faruqi said:

“Peter Dutton is the Minister for Home Affairs and is meant to be keeping us safe. For some time we have been saying he isn’t fit for the job but this morning’s tone deaf comments further prove it.

Australian Greens Senator, Dr Mehreen Faruqi, has reacted to the Christchurch terrorist attack. Senator Faruqi is Australia's first Muslim woman senator.

Senator Faruqi said:

"What happened in Christchurch is deeply devastating and terribly distressing.

"I am heartbroken and quite frankly scared. First and foremost we are grieving and our thoughts are with the friends and families of the victims who have been brutally killed by a white supremacist terrorist from Australia.

What the coalition government did yesterday was shameless and it was shameful. You knew exactly what was in the motion; you had it for three whole weeks! So don't try to give us this rubbish that it was an administrative error. Senator Pauline Hanson's motion was exactly about white supremacy, and you knew that. You just don't give a damn!

Now that you've had a little bit of a backlash, you're trying to backtrack. How low can the Liberal-National government get in this parliament?

I am so sick of this rubbish. I am so sick of people who will never experience racism telling us that it doesn't exist. Senator Bernardi will never be told that you have no place in public life because of the colour of your skin. I hope that one day Australia will not need a Race Discrimination Commissioner, but that day is definitely not today, because racism is a reality and millions of people are harmed by it. Sudanese Australians are demonised by the media. Aboriginal Australians are dying in custody. Muslim Australians have been demonised and demeaned in this very parliament.

Good evening. Assalamoalikum. We are gathered here today on stolen land. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging. We must recognise that sovereignty was never ceded. All Australians, whether they were born here or have come from somewhere else, have an obligation to remember: this land always was and always will be Aboriginal land.