Like any Australian, I fulfilled my democratic rights and obligations by volunteering and participating in a Senate inquiry into issues facing diaspora communities in Australia.
I had every intention of presenting my experience, expertise and insights into these important issues during the public hearing. Instead, I had my loyalty, allegiance and commitment to Australia repeatedly challenged and questioned by Senator Eric Abetz.
Through the use of intimation and bullying tactics that can be described as race-baiting McCarthyism, myself and two other Chinese-Australian witnesses were subjected to a public loyalty test where Senator Abetz demanded that we “unequivocally condemn” the Chinese Communist Party.
Ironically, my presentation pointed out that every time a person of Chinese appearance put their hands up for public office, their loyalty and allegiance to Australia is questioned. Senator Abetz’s behaviour just proved my point.
Then there was Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells who suggested that “certain communities just don’t want to participate” in democracy and that her advice to me is “go and read the Constitution”. What I can say to Senator Fierravanti-Wells is that the Australian Constitution is fundamentally racist as it prevents First Australians to fully participate in Australian society. Senator Fierravanti-Wells’s
