Senator Mehreen Faruqi has revealed she has “experienced racism in the Greens” as leader Adam Bandt declined to rule out that the party had received complaints about alleged racism beyond one expected from Lidia Thorpe.
Faruqi, the Greens’ anti-racism spokesperson, made the comments at a press conference on Tuesday at which Bandt confirmed the party is yet to see the complaint of racism foreshadowed by senator Thorpe on the ABC on Sunday.
Thorpe quit the Greens in February to represent the “black sovereign movement” in parliament. Thorpe revealed on Sunday that she intends to lodge a complaint to the Human Rights Commission against her former party, but declined to say whether it related to her former parliamentary colleagues.
On Tuesday, Bandt told reporters in Canberra that he had “spoken to First Nations MPs and MPs of colour who told me that they experienced discrimination in society including, frankly, within the Greens”.
Faruqi said “in my 30 years in Australia I have worked in many organisations before I stepped into politics and I have experienced racism in each and every single one of them”.
“And yes I have experienced racism in the Greens ... so I want to be clear that racism is systemic in this country and it has to be stamped out and eradicated at every single level and that does include the Greens.”
Faruqi said the “visceral” racism directed at public figures who are women and also people of colour demonstrates the “intersection of sexism and racism”.
Faruqi is a former New South Wales upper house member, who warned against the “normalisation” of racism when she entered the federal Senate in 2018, replacing Lee Rhiannon.
Earlier this month, Faruqi announced she would launch federal court action against Pauline Hanson under the Racial Discrimination Act, after the One Nation founder told the Greens senator to “piss off back to Pakistan” in an ugly social media clash following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
On Tuesday, Bandt said “there is institutional racism in Australia, and no one is exempt from that”.
“This is something we all have an obligation to stamp out. No workplace, no institution, no political party is immune.”
Bandt confirmed the party was yet to see any detail of Thorpe’s complaint and did not know the basis of the claim.
Asked if he had received “any form of complaint about racism in your party”, Bandt replied it was his obligation as leader to take steps to ensure racism didn’t occur.
“I’m not going to comment,” he said, beyond that “any complaints we receive we act on”.
Bandt said he wanted to send a message to “activists and supporters in the Greens, people of colour and First Nations people that we are an anti-racist party, that we fight racism wherever it is”.
On Sunday Thorpe said: “I’ve experienced racism all my life in every workplace and the Greens were no different.”
The Greens said the party was “not aware of any proceedings against any of its MPs or the party”.
“The Greens are committed to stamping out racism wherever it occurs, in workplaces everywhere and in institutions like parliament,” it said in a statement.
