Hon. Alan Tudge MP
Acting Minister of Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs
12 November 2020
Dear Minister Tudge,
This letter is to request your Government take immediate steps towards addressing Senator Eric Abetz’s conduct during the Senate Hearing held on Wednesday, 14 October 2020 on Issues Facing Diaspora Communities, where he explicitly asked the only three Chinese Australian witnesses – Osmond Chiu (Research Fellow, Per Capita Think Tank), Yun Jiang (Editor, The China Story) and Wesa Chau (Deputy Lord Mayor Candidate, City of Melbourne) to “unequivocally condemn” the Chinese Communist Party. No other witnesses were questioned in this manner.
The three witnesses made separate submissions to the inquiry on different topics.To single out and question, three Chinese Australian witnesses on the basis of their Chinese heritage is essentially “loyalty testing” their allegiances.
When confronted to apologise via a series of opinion pieces, news reports and social media advocacy, the Senator has repeatedly refused to admit his wrongs and apologise. Instead, he continues to claim that what he did during the hearing “is not racism”.
As the acting Minister for the Multicultural Affairs portfolio, you would understand how damaging Senator Abetz’s behaviour is to Australia’s social cohesion and encourages suspicion towards the wider Chinese Australian community which makes up almost 6% of the entire Australian population.
It is in Australia’s broader national interest and to the benefit of our global standing to show that our elected leaders do not believe Senator Abetz’s behaviour is acceptable. The strength and resilience of our multicultural liberal democracy will be shown by the Government’s actions. Silence sends a strong message of tolerance for his behaviour.
We would like to ask you in your capacity as the acting Minister for the Multicultural affairs portfolio to:
- Request Senator Eric Abetz apologise to the three witnesses at the hearing (Osmond Chiu, Yun Jiang and Wesa Chau) for questioning their loyalties and allegiances on the basis of their cultural backgrounds;
- Issue a statement with Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressing this situation clearly and directly, reassuring the Chinese Australian community that this line of “loyalty testing” was unacceptable behaviour and will not happen again in any capacity.
Signed,
Tanya Plibersek MP, Federal Member for Sydney, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Andrew Giles MP, Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Stephen Jones MP, Federal member for Whitlam, Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Shadow Minister for Financial Services, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Pat Conroy MP, Federal Member for Shortland, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Shadow Minister Assisting for Climate Change, Shadow Minister Assisting for Defence, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Tim Watts MP, Federal Member for Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Ged Kearney MP, Federal Member for Cooper, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Graham Perrett MP, Federal Member for Moreton, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Dr Anne Aly MP, Federal Member for Cowan, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Josh Burns MP, Federal Member for McNamara, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Kate Thwaites MP, Federal Member for Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Milton Dick MP, Federal Member for Oxley, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Anne Stanley MP, Federal Member for Werriwa, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Julian Hill MP, Federal Member for Bruce, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Senator Tim Ayres, Senator for NSW, Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Adam Bandt MP, Australian Greens Parliamentary Leader and Federal Member for Melbourne, Australian Greens
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Anti-racism spokesperson and Senator from NSW, Australian Greens
Senator Janet Rice, Foreign Affairs and Multiculturalism spokesperson and Senator from VIC, Australian Greens
Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens Senator for WA, Australian Greens
Senator Jordan Steele-John, Australian Greens Senator for WA, Australian Greens
Mick Gentleman MLA, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Member for Brindabella, ACT Labor
Michael Pettersson MLA, Member for Yerrabi, ACT Labor
The Hon Pierre Yang MLC, Western Australian Legislative Council, WA Labor
The Hon Daniel Mookhey MLC, Shadow Finance and Small Business Minister, and Shadow Minister for the Gig Economy, NSW Labor
The Hon John Graham MLC, Shadow Minister for Roads, Shadow Minister for Music and the Night Time Economy, NSW Labor
The Hon Peter Primrose MLC, Member of Legislative Council, NSW Labor
The Hon Rose Jackson MLC, NSW Legislative Council, NSW Labor
Jo Haylen MP, State Member for Summer Hill, NSW Labor
Jenny Leong MP, NSW State Member for Newtown, NSW Greens
Jamie Parker MP, NSW State Member for Balmain, NSW Greens
Tamara Smith MP, NSW State Member for Ballina, NSW Greens
Abigail Boyd MLC, NSW Member of Legislative Council, NSW Greens
David Shoebridge MLC, NSW Member of Legislative Council, NSW Greens
Cate Faehrman MLC, NSW Member of Legislative Council, NSW Greens
Clr Jerome Laxale, Mayor, City of Ryde, NSW
Clr Darcy Byrne, Mayor, Inner West Council, NSW
Clr Linda Scott, Local Councillor, City of Sydney, NSW
Clr Penny Pedersen, Local Councillor, City of Ryde Council NSW
Clr Kun Huang, Local Councillor, Cumberland City Council, NSW
Clr Warren Tegg, Local Councillor, Georges River Council, NSW
Clr Kathryn Landsberry, Local Councillor, Georges River Council, NSW
Clr Charishma Kaliyanda, Local Councillor, Liverpool City Council NSW
Clr Nathan Hagarty, Local Councillor, Liverpool City Council, NSW
Michele O’Neil, President, Australian Council of Trade Unions
Melissa Donnelly, National Secretary, Community and Public Sector Union (PSU Group)
Andrew Dettmer, National President, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU)
Tim Kennedy, National Secretary, United Workers Union
Sylvia Hale, Co-Convenor, The Greens NSW
Erin Wen Ai Chew, Founder and National Convener, Asian Australian Alliance (AAA)
Molina Asthana, Victorian Head Convener, Asian Australian Alliance (AAA)
Thomson Ch’ng, NSW Convener, Asian Australian Alliance (AAA)
Adri Lozano, NSW Convener, Asian Australian Alliance (AAA)
Stephanie Jack, Tasmanian Convener, Asian Australian Alliance (AAA)
Emma Dawson, Executive Director, Per Capita
Dr John Falzon, Senior Fellow, Per Capita
Tim Lyons, Former Ass. Sec. ACTU and Research Fellow Per Capita
Shirley Jackson, Economist, Per Capita
Eddie Micallef, Chair, Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria
Dr Trina Supit, member of the Indonesian community and former Teachers Federation member, Ethnic Communities Council
Anita Tang, Community Organising Director, Centre for Australian Progress; Chair, Democracy in Colour
Luke Hilakari, Secretary, Victorian Trades Hall Council
Kirsty Albion, Executive Director, Australian Progress
Phong Trinh, on behalf of Australian Progress
Tim Lo Surdo, Founder & National Director, Democracy in Colour
Neha Madhok, on behalf of Democracy in Colour
Jessica Kendall, Co-Director, Economic Media Centre
Lena Nahlous, Executive Director, Diversity Arts Australia
Priscilla Brice, Managing Director, All Together Now
Jason Yat-sen Li, President, Chinese Australian Forum
Thuy Linh Nguyen, Organiser, Sydney Alliance
Mary Waterford AM, Member, Sydney Alliance
Dr Anthony Pun, OAM, Multicultural Communities Council of NSW and Foundation President, Chinese Community Council of Australia & Coordinator, Chinese Australian Leaders Group.
Dr. Yeow-Tong Chia, President, Malaysia and Singapore Society of Australia
Dr. Russell Jeung, Founder, Stop AAPI Hate, USA
Alison Pennington, Senior Economist, Centre for Future Work
Luke Whitington, on behalf of the SEARCH Foundation
Medical Association for Prevention of War, Australia
Sam La Rocca, Co-Executive Director, The Sunrise Project
Kristy Walters, on behalf of Community Power Agency
Edie Shepherd, co-founder and board member of the Progressive Tech Network
Christine McKenzie, President, PEN Melbourne
Mark Isaacs, President, PEN Sydney
Matt Kunkel, Director, Migrant Workers Centre
Kelly Albion, Campaign Director, 350.org Australia
Claire Pisani, Founder, Culture Confidence
Adam Ni, Editor, China Story
Marcus Reubenstein, Editor, APAC News
Rosanna Barbero, CEO, Addi Road
Kelly Albion, on behalf of 350.org Australia
David McKnight, Honorary Associate Professor, University of NSW
Frank Stilwell, Emeritus Professor, University of Sydney
Dr Josephine Scicluna, Casual Academic, Deakin University
Chuck Chan, Secondary School Teacher, Nazareth College, VIC, Australia
Eva Cox AO, Individual
John Menadue AO, Individual
Helen Hewett AM, Individual
Osman Faruqi, Individual
Daphne Lowe-Kelley, Individual
David Peetz, individual
Mike Yan, Individual
Teik-Kim Pok, Individual
Erin Quill, Individual
Tyrone Liu, Individual
Dr Ben Harris-Roxas, Individual
Kumiko Kawashima, Individual
David Yu, Individual
Tom Walsh, Individual
Joeline Baker-Lang, Individual
Karen Shamberger, Individual
Tock-Chin Cynthia Loh, Individual
Michael Been Choon Loh, Individual
Daniel Lim, Individual
Limei He, Individual
Susan Elfert, Individual
Finian Augustin, Individual
Ciann Chow, Individual
Catherine Crittenden, Individual
Jane Liang, Individual
Jez Hunghanfoo, Individual
Anna Song, Individual
Siaw-Teng Liaw, Individual
Emily Sims, Individual
Brian Aarons, Individual
Jacqueline Widin, Individual
Peter Murphy, Individual
Matt Byrne, Individual
Tim Dunlop, Individual
Dr Justine Lloyd, Individual
Jessie Lu, Individual
Gerald Roche, Individual
Siau Fong Leow, Individual
Sissi Chen, Individual
Guylord Dela Fuente, Individual
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