In a heroic display of genuine passion for the people, a Labor MP straight up yelled at Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews for her treatment of Afghan Australians, accusing her of “killing my constituents.”
Labor MP Julian Hill, who represents south-east Melbourne, also represents more Afghan-Australians than any other MP in the parliament. So it makes sense that he lost his shit during question time on the Afghanistan evacuation.
As Andrews stood up to answer questions on where we are at regarding evacuating and resettling Afghan nationals, Julian Hill can be heard in the video saying “you could have processed their visas years ago.”
Hill then shouts “you are killing my constituents” across the chamber as Andrews stood up before being booted out of the chamber — not that this stopped him. He continued yelling while leaving, calling out Andrews for her part in the fate of Afghan Australians trapped overseas.
“There are thousands of Australians and their loved ones who are only in Afghanistan because you haven’t processed their visas for years and now you are leaving them to die,” he shouted, and has since been suspended from parliament for 24 hours.
Speaker Tony Smith said Julian Hill’s behaviour was “unacceptable” but honestly? It’s about fucking time someone called out this government’s bullshit.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently announced that not all Afghan interpreters that assisted the ADF would be rescued, despite the fact that their allyship with Australia would make them targets of the Taliban.
Morrison also announced that even though we won’t rescue them, Afghans who then try to come by boat to Australia will not be accepted. Oh and on top of that, Defence Minister Peter Dutton also announced that any Afghans who then help the Taliban out of fear for their life or for survival will also be refused rescue or entry.
It seems we were happy to use Afghans when we needed them, but have easily discarded them when they need us. So actually, I’m fucking glad someone was willing to fight for Afghans, because so far all we have seen from this government is apathy and bullshit.
Earlier this week, Hill told Parliament that heaps of Afghan-Australians in his electorate were terrified every call home “may be the last”.
“My community has more Afghan Australians than any other in this parliament. They talk to me about phone calls hourly to their wives, daughters, sons, sisters, mothers, brothers — crying, knowing that every call may be the last,” he said during a passionate speech on Monday.
“The government was warned for years about the risks of these delays, and no amount of prime ministerial spin and marketing and blame-shifting can cover up his government’s moral failure to issue the visas and bring these people to safety.”
Exactly. How can Australia reject refugees that it had a hand in creating?
