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Key Points
- Mehreen Faruqi has told the Senate she has been broken by “racism” in parliament this week.
- The Greens senator, who is also a Muslim, said attacks on those of her faith had taken a heavy personal toll on her.
- Parliamentary debate continued on Thursday over visas issued to Palestinians fleeing Gaza.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has told the Senate that parliamentary debate over Australia’s granting of visas for Palestinians has left her “broken” and that “racism” and “attacks on Muslims” has taken a heavy toll on her.
Debate in the past fortnight has centred on Australian visa applications for Palestinians fleeing Gaza, .
Despite the government’s repeated reassurances that , Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faced more questions on the issue during Question Time on Thursday.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton accused Albanese of “cutting corners” and placing “domestic political considerations ahead of national security”.
The Opposition leader repeated calls he made in parliament on Monday to ban Palestinians from being issued visas to Australia until security vetting processes were improved.
Faruqi accused parliament of being fertile ground for “the roots of racism … and problems in this country.”
“This week, this place has broken me. This place has broken me with its racism, this place has broken me with its attacks on Muslims, on Palestinian refugees, on disabled people and on women,” she told the Senate.
Faruqi said she was “not afraid of telling the truth and calling out racism, sexism, and bigotry” despite the personal toll it had taken.
“But some days, some weeks, the price is just too heavy.”
She said Dutton made “outrageous comments” and that Labor senator Penny Wong had falsely accused the Greens of politicising the plight of Palestinians.
“I had to sit here and listen to Senator (Jacqui) Lambie attack and vilify Muslims and she couldn’t even pronounce my name”, Faruqi said of the senator who .
Since , the government has rejected 7,111 visa applications from Palestinians and granted 2,922, as of 12 August. About 1,300 of those with approved visas have resettled in Australia.
There have been 8,746 visas granted to Israeli citizens while 235 Israeli visa applications were rejected over the same period.
The majority of the visas granted to Palestinians were done so earlier in the conflict; Home Affairs has only granted 236 visas since 27 May.
of concocting outrage over Palestinian visas, saying that it had been more than three months since people could physically leave war-torn Gaza.