Australia ‘belongs to all of us’: Ley calls for calm ahead of anti-immigration march

3 weeks ago 9

Opposition leader Sussan Ley has warned protesters planning to attend neo-Nazi linked, anti-immigration marches around the country that violence and racism has no place in Australia.

“March for Australia” protests, which organisers say are promoting an end to mass migration, will be held in major cities on Sunday. Though the events are deliberately leaderless, many organisers were quickly linked to far-right groups, sparking safety warnings for Australia’s multicultural communities.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has called for calm ahead of planned anti-immigration rallies.

“There is no place for violence, racism or intimidation,” Ley said in a video posted to social media on Saturday afternoon.

“Whether incited from afar or stirred up here, we cannot let hatred and fear tear at our social cohesion.”

Ley said while Australia protected the right to protest, it must be done peacefully and respectfully.

“Strong borders keep us safe, but they also allow us to be generous and compassionate to those fleeing conflict. That is the Australian story. Respect, tolerance, community. It belongs to all of us,” she said.

A Facebook page promoting the protest has heaped criticism on Liberal party branches around the country, accusing them of straying from traditional party values for not supporting the marches.

“The Liberals you once admired are gone, and they have been for a long time,” a post from organisers said.

“We all know this country has been sold out, and that isn’t something that could be accomplished by Labor alone ... Menzies would be rolling in his grave if he saw the Liberal party today.”

Under Peter Dutton’s leadership, the Coalition took a hard-line stance against immigration and vowed to slash arrival numbers if elected, which drew condemnation from human rights organisations. The party suffered a historic loss in May’s election and Dutton lost his seat.

Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell has called the March for Australia “our” rally on the messaging app Telegram, while a senior member of the far-right National Socialist Network claimed on video-streaming site Rumble that the group had been asked to help with the rally, ABC News Verify reported.

Some organisers have distanced themselves from the event following Sewell’s comments, and March for Australia has denied links to Sewell and the National Socialist Network.

Progressive influencers have slammed the march online, and counterprotests have been organised in some cities including Melbourne where a coalition of left-wing groups will hold a pro-Palestine, anti-fascist demonstration.

Ley decried the pro-Palestinian demonstrations earlier this month, in which hundreds of thousands of people marched around the country, and shut down the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

“It’s not reasonable that we throw Sydney into chaos for hours and hours,” she said at the time. “We can’t continue to have these protests that shut down such an important area of a major city.”

Fewer than 700 people have registered to attend the Sydney March for Australia on a Facebook event.

The federal government condemned the marches in a brief statement on Thursday, but declined further requests for comment.

Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke said Labor stood against the planned marches as “nothing could be less Australian”.

“There is no place in our country for people who seek to divide and undermine our social cohesion,” he said in the statement.

Minister for Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly said migrant communities would not be intimidated.

“This brand of far-right activism grounded in racism and ethnocentrism has no place in modern Australia,” she said.

The Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation declined to comment.

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