The Allan Labor Government has been criticised for refusing to support a Parliamentary inquiry into anti-Indian, anti-Semitic, and anti-Islamic hate crimes, after voting against amendments proposed by the Liberals and Nationals.
The debate was originally initiated by the Greens, who moved for an inquiry into hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community to be examined by the Parliamentary Legal and Social Issues Committee.
Evan Mulholland, Shadow Minister for Multicultural and Multifaith Affairs, proposed amendments to expand the scope of the Greens’ motion to include multicultural, xenophobic, and anti-Semitic hate crimes.
Labor voted down these amendments.
Speaking in Parliament, Mr Mulholland said, “The Indian community in my electorate is regularly raising with me their concern about the rise in racism—both in the streets and online.”
He also highlighted the emerging threat posed by artificial intelligence, saying, “With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, there is a whole new frontier of spiteful content that is being created to demonise the Indian community. It is easy to dismiss this as ‘AI slop’ when it is not your background or skin colour which is being attacked.”
Mr Mulholland emphasised the real-world consequences of racial and religious hatred, citing several recent attacks on diverse communities: vandalism of the BAPS temple in Mill Park and the Virgin Mary Mosque in Hoppers Crossing, anti-Semitic graffiti at Jewish schools, and thefts of the Gandhi statue in Rowville and the Lebanese Emigrant Statue in Preston.
He added,
“I fail to see how any member of this place, who cares for social cohesion, who cares for our multicultural communities and the strength of our social fabric, could fail to support my amendments.”
During the debate, Labor MP Michael Galea argued that broadening the scope of the inquiry to include multicultural communities could “dilute” the voices of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Responding, Mr Mulholland said,
“Labor will smile, take a selfie, claim they are concerned about incidents in Parliament, and then, when it matters, they vote with the Greens to abandon multicultural Victorians.”
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