Aborigines rally against racist Ipswich MP

By Bill Mason BRISBANE - Several hundred Aborigines and supporters rallied in the Ipswich Mall on March 7 to condemn the newly elected independent MP for Oxley Pauline Hanson for racism during her successful election campaign in the Ipswich-based seat. Hanson was disendorsed by the Liberal Party after claiming the federal government had looked after Aborigines too much. She also stated she would be working for the white community only in Oxley. Hanson won Oxley with an unprecedented 25% swing against Labor's John Scott. Speakers at the rally described Hanson as Ipswich's version of Adolf Hitler. Former Liberal Senator and Aboriginal elder Neville Bonner told the rally, I'm not angry, I'm sad [that] this state of affairs has occurred in this state out of the ignorance of one person. Australian Indigenous People's Party president Norman Johnson said, It's not sad that she ran on a platform of racism, but it is sad that she won. Other speakers included state member for Ipswich David Hamill and former ALP member for Oxley John Scott. Australian Democrats leader Cheryl Kernot also sent a letter of support to the rally and called on Hanson to retract her comments. Church leaders have also expressed deep concern at the new wave of racism which had appeared in Queensland in recent weeks. A racist alliance now appears possible in federal parliament, with expelled former ALP, now independent, member for Kalgoorlie, WA, Graeme Campbell, endorsing Hanson's stand. Democratic Socialist candidate for Brisbane in the recent federal elections Zanny Begg told Green Left Weekly that with the collapse of the federal and state Labor governments, and the election of Coalition regimes at both levels, right-wing forces have been given a huge confidence boost. The Coalition cynically played the racist card, and undoubtedly Aborigines and migrants are going to be made scapegoats for the coming Howard offensive against living standards and civil rights. It is essential that a broad coalition of anti-racist forces be built to confront this reactionary threat, Begg concluded. n