The Liberals will face a backlash from multicultural community members if they continue to work hand-in-hand with One Nation, GetUp warns.
GetUp’s Racial Justice campaigner Roj Amedi said one in five Australians come from a non-English speaking background and have shown themselves to be a political force to be reckoned with.
“The question facing the Liberal party today is: will it govern for all Australians or allow its hard-right faction to continue to call the shots?”
She said Tony Abbott’s launching of Pauline Hanson’s book was a slap in the face to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and multicultural communities across the country.
“One Nation is avowedly racist. Normalising this viewpoint is abhorrent. And it is only the tip of the iceberg, as the Coalition continues to refuse ruling out preference deals with One Nation, and pursue legislation that attacks Australia's multicultural communities.
“First they attempted to water down the laws that protect our communities from hate speech, introduce discriminatory citizenship changes that would create a permanent underclass of migrants living in Australia, and pursue cruel cuts to vital supports such as paid parental leave and bereavement leave for permanent residents and other migrants.”
GetUp is helping communities who experience racism come together to use their numbers and the power of their collective voice at election time.
“If you cosy up with people who directly threaten people from multicultural communities, who endanger their very existence, there’s a price to pay at the ballot box,” Ms Amedi said.